One Piece: The Next Story
by Raverns
Summary: It has been 60 years since the second Pirate King sailed the sea. This is the story of a young man who strives to become what only two others have. This will be either the beginning of another man who never reached his dreams, a tale of someone who soared to tremendous heights, or just maybe the story of the third Pirate King! OC'S WILL BE ACCEPTED FROM ANYONE.
1. Chapter 1: Typhoons are Crazy!

**One piece: The Next Story**

It has been sixty years since the second pirate king sailed the seas under his black flag and there have been many a pirate that have been trying to claim that title for themselves some who were able to make a name for themselves and most that were just a footnote in history but none that have been able to do what only two others have been able. This is the story of a young man who strives for the title many others have died trying to achieve. He will face many an obstacle the unforgiving sea, the government that will try to stop him, and the others that are also aiming for the same. This will be either the beginning of another man who never reached his dreams, a tale of someone who soared to tremendous heights, or just maybe the story of the third Pirate King!

Chapter: 1** Typhoons are crazy!**

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><p>The ocean sky was filled with dark storm clouds, the waves thrashed wildly, it was a scene of pure chaos and amidst this chaos was a small ship carrying a lone passenger.<p>

It was a young man around sixteen years of age, he had tanned skin, he had short spiky black hair, a small build, and stood around 5'8. He was wearing a black shirt with the sleeves ripped off and blue cargo shorts.

The young man was paddling for dear life as the waves and strong winds kept ravaging his vessel from every direction.

"Just my luck not even a week at sea and I'm already going to die" said the young man.

Just as he said that he noticed a funnel of wind come down from the clouds and touch the ocean, it was pulling the seawater into itself.

It was a typhoon and it was dragging the boat and the young man into itself.

"Crap crap no-no-no! "said the young man in frustration as he tried to escape the typhoons pull.

Before he even knew it was already too late he was at the base of the typhoon and his boat was being shot up it at an amazing speed, he quickly got as low in his boat as he could in hopes of limiting the damage he would take.

The ship whipped around the typhoon ferociously but by sort the ship was shot out of the typhoon and disappeared in to the horizon.

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><p>A few miles west of the storm a ship hoisting a black flag with purple circles all over it was sailing the sea, a crew of about twenty men were on the deck drinking around what looked to be a chest filled to the brim with gold and jewelry.<p>

"Can you believe we got all this gold from those stupid villagers" said one of the men.

"I know right they didn't even try to fight back, they just saw the flag and boom they hand over this entire chest, not that I'm complaining" said another man.

They all stared at the gold, fantasizing about what they would spend it on, but they were soon awoken from their fantasies by the sound of something crashing into the water next to their ship.

All of the men quickly headed to the side of the ship to see what had just happened. Pieces of wood were splintered and floating all around the left side of the ship.

"What the hell was that" yelled a man who had come out of a room in the back of the ship!

The man wore a large purple coat with purple fur around the collar along with a large purple hat and boots. At his waist were two six shot pistols.

Just as the men were about to answer the man they heard a sound coming from above them.

"Ahhhhhhhhhh!"

The men looked up to see a young man falling toward them.

"Somebody fat catch me!" yelled the young man as he proceeded to crash into one of the men on the ship causing both himself and the man he crashed into to fall unconscious.

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><p>The young man awoke a few hours later in the cells of the ship he crashed into. He was surrounded at all sides by iron bars and his wrists were cuffed to a chain connected to the back wall of the cell.<p>

"Well look whose awake, the fool that landed on one of my men" said the man wearing purple.

Standing next to the man was a very bulky man carrying a huge wooden club. He was a bout 6'0 tall and 4'0 wide and wore a large black and white striped shirt and similar pants.

"Do you have any idea whose ship this is, this is the pirate ship of captain Sires Grape" said the large man.

The man in purple just stood there with a look of superiority on his face.

"Who?" said the young man with a confused look on his face.

The man in purple quickly had an angry look on his face.

"Captain Grape you impudent whelp, captain of the Grape pirates, worth nearly two million beri, are you seriously saying you have never heard of me!" said the man in purple with anger in his voice.

"Nope never have" said the young man with a blank look on his face.

The captains scowl shortly twisted itself into a grin as he looked at the young man still bound in the cell.

"Well it's not as though it matters if you know it or not since we will be selling you off to the slave auctions as soon as we reach land" said Grape.

"Yeah that's not going to work for me I suggest you let me out of here before you regret it "said the young man with a half serious look on his face.

The captain looked at the young man and laughed hysterically.

"Hahahahhahah, you are locked in a cell made of pure iron and shackled to the wall you are in no place to be making threats" said the captain as he started walking out of the cell leaving the large man with the club to look after the young man.

"I gave you a warning" said the young man loudly as Grape closed the door behind him.

The rest of the crew was waiting outside of the brig to hear what would happen to the prisoner many of them hoping the captain would let them kill him.

"So what are we going to do with the prisoner captain" asked one of the men?

"Well boys I figured we sell him off to Jumba once we reach Diglot and make us some extra cash" said the captain.

All of the crew was fine with getting some free money which they showed by cheering in unison.

"How long until we reach Diglot" asked the captain to the man steering the ship.

"Diglot is a straight shot from here captain, we should be there by tomorrow" said the man piloting the ship.

"Well than drink to your fill tonight boys you've earned it" said the captain.

Once again the crew started to cheer but this time their cheering was cut short by a loud crash coming from below the ship. All of the crew was shocked from the sound they had heard. They quickly headed to the source of the sound but as soon as they reached the door to the brig they were caught off guard by the sight of the large man with the club crashing through the door of the brig taking a few of his fellow crew members with him as he crashed through the front of the boat and into the sea.

The rest of the crew looked at the huge hole where the door where the door to the cells used to be, they could now see the brig or at least what was left of it. The iron bars of the cell were ripped off the frame and the shackles that were restraining the prisoner were now on the floor of the cell and looked as though they had been busted open. Amidst all of this was the young man who was now rubbing his wrist after wearing the shackles for so long.

"Well you can't say I didn't give you a fair warning "said the young man still rubbing his wrists.

The captain was in shock from what was he was seeing but soon his state of shock was overtaken by his hatred for the person in front of him.

"KILL HIM!" roared Grape.

A group of about eight men charged at the young man, but just like the man with the club they were all sent flying over the edge of the ship.

Grape couldn't believe what he just saw, a single guy just knocked a bunch of grown men clear off of his ship, but he was even more surprised by how the young man had done it.

Where the young man's right arm used to be was now one roughly twice its length and 6x its width. The muscles of the arm were huge like that of a small giant, and his fist alone was the size of his head.

The young man swung his arm at a group of men that were in shock from the sight of the humongous arm, they were blasted of the boat the same as the rest. The rest of the crew opted out being hit by that monster of an arm and jumped overboard.

The only ones left on the boat were Grape and the young man. Grape raised one his pistols to shot at the young man but it was quickly knocked out of his hand before he could use it. Grape started to back away from the young man.

"Wh…Who are you, what are you" asked the frightened?

"The names Maze and I ate the muscle-muscle fruit" said the young man as he lifted his arm in front of Grape while holding his index finger back with his thumb.

"I'm a Muscle man, and I'm going to be King of the Pirates".

"Muscle Flick" shouted Maze as he flicked Grape straight in his jaw sending him flying far out into the ocean.

With the previous crew gone Maze felt it would be alright to take their ship for himself considering that his previous one was drift wood at this point.

He walked up to the wheel of the ship and noticed a map with a route laid out to a nearby island.

"Hmm Diglot island huh well I guess it's as good a place to start my adventure as any, maybe I'll even find someone to join my crew. Which would be great especially since talking to myself cannot be a good thing" said Maze.

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><p>And so our story begins what adventures lie in wait for our young pirate comeback and read the next chapter to find out!<p>

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><p>AN: Hello everyone who chose to read this I'm Raverns and this is my first attempt at a one piece fanfic so if you liked it leave a review and if you really liked it then maybe you would like your own character to be a part of my story. If so just post it in the forum of this story there will be a template (just cut and paste) on the forum topic and open positions at the bottom and please look forward to the next chapter.

Positions: Crew

Captain: taken

First mate: taken

Navigator: open

Sniper: open

Cook: taken

Doctor: taken

Shipwright: open

Musician: open

Any other jobs you can think of are also open so be creative

Position: Marines

Fleet admiral: open (if you decide to make a character for this position please makes sure him or her are awesome)

Admirals

1)Taken

2)Taken

3)Open

Shichibuki: all positions open please make note of crew name and any crew members of note if any.

Vice admirals: all spots open

Captains: can never have enough

Positions: super novas

I haven't yet decided how many I will actually use so just throw however many you want at me. Please make sure to include what you would like their crew to be called and any members of note you would like them to have or I will decide for myself.

Pirate crews: Can never have enough. Please note whether good or evil.

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><p>Please know that since this is the one piece world any type of ability or power you can think of is pretty much on the table, so whatever you can think of, use it you don't just have to use the abiltys that have already appeared in the one piece universe so be as creative as you want.<p>

On that side note this story does take place 60 years after luffy finds one piece so you can assume all Devil Fruit users that have been mentioned have died so you can use abilities that have been introduced into the cannon story (i.e ace or kumas Devil Fruit )all I ask is that you make the characters personality and appearance different from the original character also please don't let any chacters you create be related in anyway to any cannon characters again be creative that's all guys and gals.

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><p>OC's I use will be credited at the bottom of the chapter their character premiers in.<p> 


	2. Chapter 2: The First Island Diglot!

Chapter: 2 The First Island Diglot!

The sea was calm and a strong wind was blowing into the sails of the Maze's newly acquired ship. He was on a direct course with Diglot island one of the many islands that formed West Blue. Maze had no idea what Diglot was like but he hoped he would be able to find so much needed supplies and even more importantly some crew members. Especially since manning a ship this size with only one person was not the easiest thing to do.

It was around 3 pm when the shores of Diglot Island came into view. Maze quickly prepared to drop the anchor and head on to shore.

Maze grabbed a small dingy that was hanging from the side of the ship along with a pouch filled with some of the gold that the Grape pirates left behind.

He shortly landed on an abandoned beach somewhere on the west side of the island. He soon made found old dirt paths that lead him to a small village where all of the buildings and houses were made of stone.

The people of town didn't seem to pay much attention to the stranger that was walking their streets, but he couldn't help but notice them many of the men that were walking the streets were wearing hard hats, carrying pickaxes, and were covered dirt.

Maze found a small tavern as he walked farther up the street. The sign at the door was the Cavern Tavern.

As he walked in he saw that the place was almost completely empty, with the exception of a few men in the back and the bartender who looked to be about fifty years old.

"Hey, how can I help you son" asked the bartender?

"Ah just a glass of milk thanks" answered Maze.

The bartender gave a strange look at the young man but then poured the glass of milk anyway.

"I have to admit I don't get many men your age asking for milk in here" said the bartender jokingly.

"It's really good for strengthening the bones which in my case is very much needed" said Maze.

The bartender gave another strange look at Maze.

"So I've never seen you around here before what brings you to our small part of the ocean" asked the bartender?

"Just passing by trying to get some supplies for my travels and maybe find a few people who would like to come with" said Maze confidently.

"So a treasure hunter, bounty hunter, maybe just a traveler" asked the bartender?

"Pirate actually" said Maze.

"Then I suggest you leave as soon as you can" said the bartender.

"Why the people around here have a thing against pirates or something".

"No, just the one that runs the mines which means he pretty much means he runs the town".

"What's his problem with pirates"?

"Nothing really, he would just rather they be working in his mines then sailing the seas".

"So this is a mining island huh that makes sense, so what are they mining for".

"It actually used to be a farming island but the second that bastard Jumba finds himself a vein of gold this town turns into shit hole the miners don't even want to work there" said the bartender very much frustrated from his own comment!

"If they don't want to work there then why do they" asked Maze?

"They didn't mind it at first; Jumba the man that runs the mine promised them double what they were making as farmers, no one was going to pass that up".

"And what this Jumba guy didn't keep his word" asked Maze?

"Oh he kept his word all right he just neglected to mention things like tool rental fees protective gear charges and by the time anyone realized what was happening all the workers were in debt to him for more than they made" said the bartender still frustrated.

"Can he do that, is that even legal"?

"His mine his rules, now all the miners have to work nearly all day just so they can feed their families and don't get me started on the people he forces to work for him".

"What"?

"It's like I told you kid he would rather have pirates work for him then be free and that's what he does make them work for him although he does buy some people from pirates instead from time to time".

"He's strong enough to make crews work for him"?

"Him no, he has two body guards that are a pair of monsters no one that has gone up against them has even laid a hand on them before, well except for Kal ".

"Who"?

"Kal he's a traveler that got caught by Jumba's men but unlike the rest he was able to fight back even left a scar on one of the body guard's face, not to mention he's one of the only one of Jumba's captives that hasn't died from working nonstop".

Maze just sat there silent as a thought ran through his head. Someone that was strong enough to fight back against professional fighters and work nonstop for who knows how long would be a great first addition for his crew. Especially since he would probably be very grateful to the person that freed him from captivity, there's no way he would say no.

"Thanks for the info old man"

Maze quickly guzzled down what was left of his milk, left a gold coin on the counter, and started to run down the road toward the mine to find his potential new crewmate.

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><p>Maze soon came up on the mine. The mine was dug into the side of a small mountain and many men were coming in and out of it carrying buckets full of dirt out with them a few of them even had shackles on their arms and legs. Next to the mine was a stone building about 3 times the size of all the others in the village.<p>

Maze hid behind a nearby pile of wood beams to see if he could find out which one of the men was Kal. He wasn't sure how he was going to be able to figure out which one Kal was until he notice the men that were heading into the mine shaft were backing out as if to let someone through.

A man around 6'0 tall walked out of the shaft carrying two huge buckets filled to the brim with debris. He had somewhat tanned skin and long silver hair tied off into a ponytail, had long arms and a lanky build. His hands and feet were shackled together and he wore a grey long sleeve shirt with a blue stripe going down the middle and black pants.

There was no doubt in Maze's mind that this person was Kal. He kept his eye on him for a chance to talk to him to appear.

On Kal's third trip out the mine one of the other shackled miners fell over from exhaustion. Kal quickly dropped his buckets to go help the man back up but before he could he was interrupted by three men coming out of the building next to the mine.

The first man was a short man that had many knives holstered over his torso; he was wearing a green vest over a blue shirt and gray pants. The second one was tall man that was carrying a long katana and sheath in his hand he wore a red bandanna and green vest over a red shirt with blue pants and he had a long crescent shape scar on his right cheek.

The last man to come out of the building was an incredibly fat man who looked as though he shouldn't be able to walk in the first place. He was wearing a very large blue suit and tie. He had a shaved head covered by a blue bowler hat.

"What seems to be the problem here boys" said the fat man in a gruff deep voice.

"This man needs to rest he can't go back into the mine" said Kal as he kneeled over the exhausted man.

"Well that's too bad because he doesn't have a choice and on that note neither do you so get up and get back to work" said the man carrying the sword.

Kal just sat there refusing to move from where he was.

"Bo there is work to be done if he doesn't want to get up then make him just don't kill him" said the fat man.

"My pleasure Mr. Jumba" said the man with the sword.

Bo lifted the sword up while it was still in the sheath and swung it at Kal. It looked as though Kal was struck right n the head but upon closer inspection Kal was able to catch the end of the sword with his hand before it made contact.

"You're going to have to do better than that" said Kal sternly.

But as soon as he stopped talking he felt a foot make contact with his head sending him reeling back causing him to lose his grip on the sword and almost immediately Bo brought the sword down onto Kal's stomach.

"Thanks Mo "said Bo.

"No problem little brother" said the short man.

"So Kal how does it feel to be beaten with your own weapon "said Bo

"Well you should know how it feels to get hit with my sword Bo, how is that scar doing by the way" said Kal as he got back on his feet.

In a fit of rage Bo was about to bring the sword back down onto Kal but was stopped by the appearance of a giant muscular arm in front of him if not for Mo pulling him back at the last second he would have been smashed into the mountain.

"Sorry to interrupt but I couldn't just let you bash my future first mates head in" said Maze with his right arm still acting as a buffer between him and the two brothers, he turned to talk with Kal.

"Hello Kal I'm Maze and I'm here to invite you to join my crew what do you say" said Maze with a smile on his face.

"No" said Kal quickly.

"What"?!

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><p>A surprising answer and enemies inches away how will Maze turn this around find out in chapter 3 of One piece: The Next Story!<p>

A/N: Well that's chapter 2 everyone I hoped you enjoyed it. I would like to thank those who reviewed chapter 1 and also to those that have sent in OC'S so please do review this chapter and keep sending in those OC'S you can find a template and open positions at the bottom of chapter 1. Thanks again guys and gals and look forward to chapter 3.


	3. Chapter3:The First Stance and FirstMate!

Chapter 3: The First Stance and the First Mate!

Previously on One Piece: The Next Story, Maze had landed on the island of Diglot and got a good lead on a potential nakama that was being held captured by Jumba the owner of the islands mine. While trying to find this possible nakama, a swordsman named Kal, he caught sight of Jumba and his bodyguard brothers Bo and Mo. In the middle of an altercation between Kal and the bodyguards Maze jumped in and after halting the guards attack asked Kal to join his crew and was answered with a very quick NO.

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><p>"What why not" asked Maze in shock?<p>

Kal stood up and looked at Maze.

"Well for one I have no idea who you are; two I'm not going anywhere until I get my sword back, third and probably most importantly I'm definitely not leaving this island before I beat the crap out of this fat bastard and his two flunkeys" said Kal somewhat angrily.

Maze quickly came up with an idea.

"So if help you get your sword back and take these guys down you'll join my crew" asked Maze?

After hearing this Kal had a smirk on his face.

"Sure, as long as those two don't kill you first" said Kal.

Maze quickly turned around to see the brothers charging at him, Mo with a knife in each hand and Bo with Kal's sword this time out of its sheath, at the same time Maze was wondering why they didn't do this sooner.

Maze slammed the ground with his giant hand causing the ground to shack and sending him easily seven feet into the air and over the brother's heads. He landed right behind them.

"Muscle Punch" said Maze as he threw his giant fist at the brothers.

Maze nearly made contact but Mo was more agile then Maze thought he was. Mo quickly pushed his brother out of the way of the punch and in a single motion jumped into the air and landed on Maze's arm.

Mo ran up Maze's arm his knives still tight in his grip. Maze changed his arm back to normal before the small bodyguard could reach him causing Mo to fall to the ground. As if on cue Bo came hurtling down, swinging the sword down onto Maze.

Maze jumped back as fast as he could, narrowly avoiding the swords edge, but now where Maze had stood was a deep gash in the ground.

Maze centered himself; the brothers were to in synch we each other. They covered each other's weaknesses to well, Bo was strong but slow while Mo was quick and agile but didn't have much physical strength. If things kept going the way they were Maze knew he would have to start getting a bit more serious and if he did that he couldn't guarantee the safety of the nearby miners, he had to figure out away to separate them and quick.

"What's the matter that all you got giant …arm …guy" said Bo!

"Giant arm guy really" said Mo while starring at his brother somewhat irritated.

"Well why I don't see you coming up with anything" said Bo back at his brother.

"Were in the middle of a fight there's no reason to talk to him at all, you stopping to talk in the middle of a fight is the reason you got that scar on your face you idiot" said Mo harshly.

"Hey Mom said you're not supposed to call me that, shrimp" said Bo angrily!

"Well Mom's not here is she, and who the hell are you calling shrimp" said Mo very angrily.

Maze was watching them bicker back and forth when he realized this was his chance. Maze charged at the brothers once again, primarily Bo.

"Muscle…" yelled Maze.

Upon hearing this Mo grabbed his brother out of the way of the attack.

"Ha missed again fool" mocked Bo.

"Snatch" yelled Maze.

Maze had gotten his giant hand on the sword Bo had taken from Kal which Bo had put back into its sheath while he was arguing with his brother for some reason.

Maze ripped the sword out of Bo's grip and tossed it behind the brothers' backs.

The sword was caught by Kal and in one smooth motion he used it to cut open his restraints. The brothers turned to see Kal standing tall with sword in hand and ready for some payback.

"Well that's one half of your requests done, I got your sword back to you" said Maze with a smirk on his face.

"That you did but there is still these two and that mound of lard to deal with" said Kal while looking over at Jumba who was sitting in a chair next to the mine with an angry look on his face.

"This changes nothing I took you down once I'll take you down again" said Bo smugly.

Bo walked up a few steps and pulled out a single shot pistol from behind his back.

"I'm usually not very good with guns but from this distance there's no way I could miss" said Bo with a deranged look in his eye.

"That's fine with me let's see what's faster you gun or my sword" said Kal confidently.

"You idiot stop talking and just shot him already" said Mo.

"Mine your own business SHRIMP" said Bo!

"Who the hell are you calling shrimp" said Mo still very angry from earlier.

"I'm guessing you" said Maze as he had just came up on Mo's side.

"Muscle Punch".

"Crap" said Mo.

This time Mo didn't have time to evade and took the full force of the punch. Mo was knocked three inches into the side of the mine his mouth left wide open from the pain of the hit.

Bo didn't even notice what had just happened to his brother all of his focus was stuck on Kal.

"So you ready to die swordsman" said Bo in a cocky tone.

Kal stayed silent and kept his eyes on Bo and his gun. Kal placed his left leg behind him raising his left heel off the ground, he bent his right leg in front of him and he placed his sword on his left side with his left hand on the sheath and his right hand on the hilt of his sword.

"Go to Hell Kal" said Bo right before he pulled the trigger!

"First stance: Flash Slash" said Kal softly.

Kal became a blur, before Bo could even fully squeeze the trigger Kal was in front of him with Kal's sword slashing into Bo's chest, Bo collapsed where he stood with a huge gash in his chest.

With both brothers now taken care of both Maze and Kal turned their attention to Jumba who had exchanged his angry face for one full of fear.

"Now boys I'm sure we can work this out. I have money, I'll hire you two as my new bodyguards what do you say" said Jumba in a last attempt to save his neck?

"I say you're full of shit, among other things" said Maze still in disbelief by how fat Jumba is.

Maze looked at Kal waiting for him to get back at Jumba but he just stood there.

"What" said Kal?

"Aren't you gonna do something to him for what he did to you" asked Maze?

"Well I was but then I realized it would be more appropriate to let my new captain take out the "big" boss" joked Kal?

Maze just smiled he had finally gained a nakama and from what he saw Kal was going to be very reliable.

"Fine with me, well Mr. Jumba from what I've heard you're a piece of crap that likes to use others to get what he wants instead of doing the work yourself , so why don't we change that" said maze.

Maze walked up to Jumba slowly the whole time Jumba was trying to back away to no avail. Maze buffed up both his right and left arms and got a tight grip on Jumba's stubby arm.

"I hope you can swim" said Maze.

"I can't" said Jumba warily.

"Too bad".

"Muscle…" Maze started spinning in place causing Jumba to lift up off the ground and spin around with him. "Throw".

Maze let go of Jumba's arm and he went flying over the island and landing somewhere far off into the sea you could almost hear the crash he made when he hit the water.

"That guy is definitely dead" said Maze.

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><p>A few hours later the now freed villagers were thanking the duo for saving them from Jumba and his men.<p>

"So what are you guys going to do know" Kal to one of the villagers.

"Were going to continue working in the mines, now that Jumba is gone it won't be as bad" laughed the villager.

The festivities went on to the wee morning at which point the pirate duo thought it would be a good idea to head out.

"Man those villagers sure know how to party" said Maze tired from the celebration.

"Yeah they do, but who can blame them they have their freedom back" said Kal who was also tired.

"Hey do you have the stuff they gave us" asked Maze?

"Yeah right here" Kal pointed to the large sack hanging over his shoulder that held a map of the Blues and supplies to keep them going to they got to the next island.

Maze lead Kal to where he tied down the dingy.

"Are you serious this is your ship" said Kal kind of irritated?

"What, of course not, this is just what I used to get from the ship to the island" maze now pointed to small sized pirate ship anchored down about eighty yards away.

Maze had taken down the Grape Pirates flag but hadn't put up one of his own yet so it wasn't clear that it was a pirate ship at first glance.

"Oh good I almost thought you recruited me before you had a ship that was actually big enough for more than two people" joked Kal.

"Of course not what kind of idiot would do that" laughed Maze?

The both of them just laughed as they made their way to the ship and their next adventure.

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><p>AN: well there's chapter 3 everyone I hoped you liked it and again I would like to thank everyone that has left reviews and characters for my story. Remember to leave a review if you liked the story and any characters you would like to see appear in the story. Also don't be afraid to tell your friends about the story, the more the merrier. Well that's all Guys and Gals and look forward to chapter 4 of One Piece: The Next Story which will be out sometime next week.


	4. Chapter 4: The Tale of Kal!

**Chapter 4: The Tale of Kal!**

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><p><strong>Previously on One Piece: The Next Story<strong>

**Maze had defeated the Jumba and his minions Bo and Mo and freed the small mining village from their evil ways and even managed to find his first nakama Kal, and they are now sailing to their next great adventure.**

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><p>The sea was calm as Maze and Kal sailed through it, with not a single ship insight or cloud in the sky the duo were able to embrace the calming properties of their surroundings.<p>

"I'm so booooooard" moaned Maze as he slouched over the railing of the ship.

"Well it has been a pretty quiet couple of days since we left Diglot" said Kal as he sat down with his back against the mast.

"Exactly, we haven't had a single exciting thing happen, we haven't even reached the next island yet" said Maze.

"What do you expect neither one of us knows how to navigate a ship just do something to take your mind off it" said Kal as his sharp grey eyes now looked at the horizon.

That was when something pooped into Maze's head. He got off the railing and walked over to Kal.

"Hey I've been wondering something about you "said Maze with a curious look on his face.

"What" said Kal?

"Well I heard you were just traveling when you got captured but not why you were travelling" said Maze.

"Well it's not some huge secret, I was just keeping a promise I made" said Kal still resting against the mass now with his eyes closed.

"A promise, what kind of promise "asked Maze?

"To find a certain person and cut them down where they stand"

"Why"?

"That's kind of a long story" said Kal with one of his eyes open.

"We got nothing but time" said Maze with a grin.

Kal took a deep breath and started his story.

"It all started five years ago back when I was thirteen"

* * *

><p>On a small island in North Blue a young boy with shoulder length silver hair was running up a dirt road while trying to tie his dark blue gi. He had a medium sized wooden sword in his hand. He came up to a large wooden door that stood in front of a single story building and a stone wall that encircled the outside of the building.<p>

"Crap too late" said the young boy to himself.

The young boy ran back the way he came until he was about eighty yards away from the wooden door. He then started running as fast as he could straight at the stone wall and right before he crashed into it he slammed his sword against the ground and jumped into the air, the force of his sword and his jump made it so that he landed on the opposite side of the wall.

Just as he landed the young man was knocked over the head by the hilt of a sword that caused him to fall face first onto the ground.

"Oww what was that for" yelled the boy.

Standing over the boy was a man somewhere in his mid-Forties. He had long spiky brown hair, a muscular tan body, and a large scar going down his left eye. He was wearing a black gi over a red shirt, and had a katana with a black hilt in his hand.

"How many times have I told you to stop being late for training Kal" said the man holding the sword.

"I'm sorry sensei Goa, it was my turn to make breakfast this morning at the orphanage I ran here as soon as I could, I didn't even have time to eat anything" said Kal as he got up from the ground.

Goa just stared at Kal with a stern look for a second.

"Kal how is it you didn't have enough time to cook and eat when you are the only person that lives in the orphanage" asked the sensei with an irritated look on his face?

"Well you see I … I "stammered Kal.

"You over slept again didn't you" said Goa.

"Yes" said Kal quickly and quietly.

" LAZY!" YELLED Goa as he knocked Kal over the head with the hilt of his sword again!

* * *

><p>A little later Kal was kneeling in the front row of a dojo with about twenty other kids his age. In front of him were Goa and six men and women all in their twenties three on either side of Goa.<p>

The dojo was decorated with real swords all over the walls and training equipment covering the dojo floor.

"Okay everyone we will be having one on one fights today so for those who wish to volunteer to go first please step forward" said Goa.

The first to stand was one of the six older students from the front of the dojo. He walked over to the center of the dojo and stood a fighting pose.

It was a young man that towered at 7'5; he was even taller than Goa. He wore red gi which signified he was of a higher caliber then those wearing the blue gi.

All of the other students didn't make a move in fear o being chosen to fight. Well almost all of the other students.

Kal stood up and walked over to the incredibly tall student and entered his fighting stance.

Now there are a few things you need to know about this dojo. First all students are advanced depending on their fighting ability and determination, second one of the fastest ways to advance is to defeat someone of a higher caliber then themselves, and finally they are all given special wooden swords which contains another sword inside of it so that the students could practice their drawing technique.

Kal and the tall student stood face to face with each other, their hands firmly on their swords ready to strike at any moment.

"Ready, DRAW" yelled Goa!

On that signal the two young men drew their hidden wooden blades at each other. The fight was over in an instant and Kal was lying flat on his back while the tall student stood proud his sword hanging high in the air.

"Good work Mar" said Goa to the tall student.

Kal was now getting up disappointed by his loss.

"Kal do you know why you lost" asked Goa?

"Because he hit me with his sword" said Kal with an irritated tone.

"Yes that but also because of your difference in height" said Goa.

"Then there was no way I was going to win he's freaking huge" said Kal.

"You could have won if you had been faster, but because you had similar draw speeds his longer reach won it for him, so understand this now the strength, height, or even the persons weapon of the opponent doesn't matter so long as you have the speed advantage you will always have the advantage "explained Goa.

"Now Kal you are already as fast as one of my top students if you were to train more then you could undoubtedly become my top student" said Goa with a smile on his face.

Kal took what his sensei had said to heart, as long as he was faster than his opponent then there will always be a chance for victory.

* * *

><p>That night Kal spent the entire night in the front of the orphanage practicing his draw until the wee hours of the morning.<p>

While Kal was training, a pair of villagers was passing by the orphanage. But Kal was too enthralled in his training to pay them any mind.

"Hey what happened to the guards that were guarding the entrance to the village" said one of the villagers?

"Apparently there was some disturbance with some guy appearing in the village down the road so they were sent there to help sort things out" said the other villager.

* * *

><p>Kal woke up in the front orphanage covered in sweat from the night before and incredibly late for training.<p>

"Oh man sensei is going to kill me" said Kal who once again was running to the dojo.

When Kal reached the dojo he saw something he had never seen before. The large wooden door of the dojo wall was completely demolished.

Kal quickly ran into the dojo to see what had happened what he saw when he got inside left him completely still.

The students were sprawled across the floor of the dojo, their bodies covered in gashes. A few of the older students had fallen with their swords still in their hands as though they were trying to fight back.

Although the scene of the dojo's students was shocking what really had him scared stiff was the sight of Goa in a sword lock with a man he had never seen before.

The man was around his thirties he stood at 6'5 and wore a gray shroud over his body and his head was wrapped in bandages. His face was covered in scars and so were the parts of his arms that weren't covered by the shroud. In his hand was a large sword with a curved blade that had a blue tint in the steel of the blade.

At first look it seemed as though the two men were at a stalemate but really the mystery man had the upper hand. Goa was bleeding from gashes all over his body while the mystery man didn't seem to have a single scratch on him at least not any he acquired recently.

The killing intent of both men filled the dojo, neither one of them had even notice Kal walk into dojo, if either of them had lost focus for even a second the other would cut them down in an instant.

Something happened inside of Kal as he watched the fight to the death that was happening right in front of him. He pulled out his wooden sword and entered the stance he had practiced all last night.

"He still hasn't notice me, if I attack him now it my give sensei the opening he needs to beat this guy" thought Kal.

Kal positioned himself and readied his attack.

"First stance: Flash Slash" said Kal as he came up to the side of the mystery man.

The mystery man didn't notice Kal until it was too late; Kal had already swung his wooden sword into the man's side as hard as he could.

The man didn't even wince from the blow but it did cause him to take his eyes off of Goa for a split second, which gave him the opening he needed, he quickly sheathed his sword and got in position to draw.

"Fifth stance: Hilt Smasher!" yelled Goa as he slammed the hilt of his blade into the gut of his opponent faster than anyone could see.

The sheer force of the hit caused the mystery man to not only crash through the dojo's wall but also through the stone wall of the gate.

Goa fell over from pure exhaustion, Kal quickly ran over to him to see if he was okay.

"Sensei, are you okay" said Kal warily?

"'I'll be fine Kal and …are you okay" said Goa as he was breathing heavily?

"Yes sensei but the others I think their…"

"Do not worry they are still alive, heavily injured but alive if you hurry to the village you should be able to…"

Goa stopped what he was saying when he saw the mystery man walking towards him and Kal.

Kal turned to see what his sensei was looking at. Kal got up as fast as he could and got back into his first stance pose to defend his sensei.

"Hmm I'm honestly surprised I missed one of you runts" said the mystery man.

In the time it took for Kal to blink the man was right in front of him. The mystery man back handed smacked Kal to the other side of the dojo.

"I usually don't kill kids but that little trick you pulled back there really pissed me off, hell maybe I'll just finish off all the brats in here but you first" said the mystery man as he slowly walked over to where Kal was lying.

Kal couldn't move as this monster of a man walked toward him. Kal saw nothing but death coming until he heard his sensei speak.

"LAZARUS!" screamed Goa!

The mystery man turned to face Goa.

"What do you want old man I'm kind of busy at the moment" said Lazarus?

Goa slowly got up, fighting the pain that was coursing through his body the entire time.

"You came here to kill me right, then do it, but spare the lives of my students" pleaded Goa.

"Well will you look at this, the great Master Goa is begging for the life of his students instead of his own how commendable" said Lazarus sarcastically.

"Are you going to do it or not" said Goa angrily.

Lazarus just stared at Goa for a moment before making his choice.

"What the hell, why not I got someplace I have to be anyway" said Lazarus nonchalantly.

He walked over to Goa and lifted his blade over his head.

"Any last words Goa" said Lazarus?

Goa looked over at Kal.

"Goodbye Kal, and make sure you keep getting stronger".

As soon as Goa finished talking Lazarus lopped his head off with a single swing.

Kal couldn't even think as the body of his sensei lied lifeless and headless on the floor of the dojo. The only thing he could fell was an overwhelming hatred for the person who had done this.

"I'm going to kill you" said Kal softly.

Lazarus was now heading to the hole he had made in the wall when he turned around to hear what was just said.

"What was that" said Lazarus?

"I'm GOING TO KILL YOU I SWEAR IT!" said Kal with anger he had never felt before.

Lazarus just had a wide grin on his face.

"Good luck with that kid" said Lazarus as he walked out of the dojo.

* * *

><p>"It was a little while later when some villagers came by and got all the students the help they needed, and since then I have been training and searching for the man that killed my sensei" said Kal.<p>

Maze's eyes were at the brink of crying from the sad story he had heard.

"That was a hard story to hear man" said Maze while wiped his eyes.

"Thanks captain" said Kal calmly.

As Maze was about to head inside of the boat another question popped into his head.

"Wait one more thing, how did those two bodyguard brothers catch you anyway you're obviously stronger than they were" asked Maze?

"Oh well they kind of caught me while I was sleeping on the beach, and while I was still sleeping Bo was trying to get my sword away from me and my body reacted by habit and cut his cheek" said Kal somewhat embarrassed.

"Those two were complete idiots huh" said Maze.

"Yup" agreed Kal.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Well there's chapter 4 everyone I hope you enjoyed a look into Kal's tragic pass, and a look at one of the many villains of this world Lazarus. Now for the fourth time I would like to thank all those that have read and reviewed this story and also to all those who have submitted their characters. Now I would like to let you all know now that the first of the OCS I have received will be in the next chapter so look forward to that also to all those that have already submitted characters I want you to know that you don't have to stop at one send me as many characters as you want (that way you have more chances of getting one in).**

**Also I could really use some ideas for villains so if you have one, don't be afraid to send it.**

**Well that's all guys and gals and look forward to chapter 5 which with some luck (and a lot of coffee) will be up some time tomorrow.**


	5. Chapter 5: The Candy Loving Navigator!

Chapter** 5: The Candy Loving Navigator!**

* * *

><p><strong>Previously on One Piece: The Next Story, Maze and Kal were sailing through the sea with no idea where they were heading. While trying to pass the time Kal told Maze about his past and why he is out on the sea in the first place. They are now in need of a navigator, especially if they ever want to stop drifting through the Blues.<strong>

* * *

><p>It has been a few days since the duo had set sail for the next island but so far hadn't seen a single island and was running low on supplies.<p>

Maze was sitting in the crow's nest of the ship a telescope in hand on the lookout for any nearby island that they can resupply on.

While looking toward the left of the ship and he saw a small island no more than a few hours away.

"Yes finally!" yelled Maze.

He quickly ran down into the crews' quarters to tell Kal about the island.

"Kal I found an island." said Maze to a sleeping Kal.

Kal didn't even budge; he just laid in his hammock, out like a light.

"Kal wake up." said Maze

Maze shook Kal but he just didn't wake up. Maze was afraid that Kal might have something seriously wrong with him.

"ZZZZZZZZZZZZZ." snored Kal

Maze breathed a breath of relief until he realized that he still couldn't wake Kal up. Maze huffed and head back up to the deck to steer the ship toward the island.

"Well, he should be up by the time we get to the island." thought maze

A few hours later Maze docked the ship at the islands dock. Thanks to the fact that the ship still didn't have a jolly roger made it so that no one would look twice at it.

Maze went back to see if Kal had woken up yet, but when he got down to the quarters all he saw was a still sleeping (and snoring) Kal.

Maze decided to leave Kal on the ship while he went out to search the island. He grabbed a pouch and filled it with the gold he had stored in the still destroyed brig.

* * *

><p>While he searched the island he came up on a small town called Taloon that was covered in shops and restaurants. Maze noticed a lot of happy and smiling people on the streets. It was the exact opposite of what he saw at the last island. It seemed as though none of the people on the island had a care in the world.<p>

As he turned into a small street a look of compete bliss fell over Maze's face. He had smelled the fragrant, tantalizing, delicious, and irresistible smell of freshly made cinnamon rolls.

Maze followed the smell of his undeniable weakness. It lead him to a small bakery in between a restaurant and a bar.

Maze had found his way to the food district of the island town. He was surrounded by hundreds of different smells from the many shops around him, but the smell from the cinnamon rolls just came calling for him so he ran into the bakery and through fifty beri onto the counter.

"Give me as many cinnamon rolls as you can for that." Said Maze at the young women manning the bakeries counter.

Maze was walking out of the bakery carrying a large bag filled with his beloved baked goods and a huge smile on his face.

Maze was walking along side a small creek that ran along the dirt road of the town. Not able to restrain his craving anymore Maze took out one of the rolls.

Just as Maze was about to stuff his mouth with his favorite food he was knocked over by someone that had walked into him.

As Maze was getting up he got a good look at the person that ran into him.

It was a young woman with straight long pink hair, blue eyes, freckles, and lightly tan skin, she also had three diagonal scars on her left arm and skinny figure and she stood around 5'7 tall.

She was wearing a yellow cap, a black jacket that had candy strapped inside of it over a dark pink shirt, black boots and Dark Blue Denim shorts. A small black belt pouch on right side of hip, and also had a bracelet on her right wrist with a bumble bee on the center. The bee sits on a honeycomb of seed beads.

"Hey watch where you're going!" yelled the young women.

"Hey you were the one that walked into me!" said Maze.

"So you're saying this is my fault?" said the young woman as she was getting back up.

"Yes it is you came out of nowhere." said Maze angrily.

"Oh, what a big man blaming a women for his mistakes what do you always put the blame on others when it's your fault?" said the young woman.

Maze was about to tell this person off when he saw that his rolls had been scattered all over the ground.

"Aw man my rolls." said Maze as he stared at his favorite food covering the ground, the hot icing making the dirt cling to it.

"Are you seriously whining over some baked goods, ha." Said the young woman.

The young woman was still laughing when she saw the bag of candy that she was carrying before they collided had all fallen into the nearby river.

"No my candy" said the young woman.

The young woman shot a dirty look over at Maze.

"You jerk you made me lose my candy!" said the young woman her voice full of anger.

The young woman slammed her hand against the ground. The ground in front of Maze instantly became sticky. The sticky substance kept Maze from being able to move his feet from where they were.

"What the hell is this stuff?" said Maze still trying to get his feet free.

"That is what you get for messing with my candy" said the woman as she stormed off back the direction she came from.

* * *

><p>Maze was finally freed from that sticky stuff by removing his sandals and jumping onto the normal ground.<p>

So now Maze was walking through the streets of the town barefoot. He was too far away from the ship to walk there without shoes; luckily there was a cobbler nearby. Maze got some new sandals and made his way back into the main street of the town.

"I may have lost my shoes and those amazing Cinnamon rolls but at least I can get some info on a navigator" said Maze.

Maze walked around the town for awhile asking different people if they knew anyone that could navigate the seas. Leaving out the part about it being a navigator for a pirate crew, since he got the feeling these people wouldn't be do cheerful while around a pirate. After asking a bunch a people Maze finally found someone that could lead him in the right direction.

In a partially abandoned part of the city Maze found a small map shop, if there was any place that he could find out about a capable navigator then it was going to be here.

Inside of the shop was an old man in grey overalls under a green apron that was organizing some of the maps in the back of shop.

The old man turned around when he heard someone walk in through the door.

"How can I help you young man, looking for some maps or navigation books?" asked the old man.

"Maybe later, right now I was wondering if you knew anyone who's a navigator that would be willing to go out to sea?" asked Maze.

The old man gave Maze a once over and then thought for a second, after he was finished thinking he turned around to continue working on the maps.

"Well there is one person that comes to mind but I'm not sure if she will go out to sea, especially if it's with a pirate crew" said the old man while continuing to work on his maps.

Maze had a look of surprise on his face.

"How did you know I was a pirate!" said Maze in shock.

The old man turned back around to look Maze in the eye.

"Young man I have been around a long time I know a pirate when I see one. No matter the personality or kind of pirate they are they always have that look in their eyes, the look of someone that is after their dream" said the old man with a faint smile on his face.

Maze had a similar look on his face after hearing what the old man had said.

"So who is this navigator you were talking about?" asked Maze.

The old man told Maze about a young woman that had been studying to become a navigator for the last eight years in preparation for going out to sea. He said she would be coming around later and that he could stay and wait for her.

Maze was in the back of the store when he heard someone walk into the store.

"Ah Connie I have some good news for you" said the old man.

"That's good to hear Yelsin; I've been having a pretty lousy day today" said the young woman.

"What happened?" asked Yelsin.

"Some jerk ran into me and made me lose my stash of candy for the week and by the time I made it back to the candy shop they were closed" complained Connie.

When Maze heard the woman's story he knew who this person was.

"You were the one that ran into me you lair!" screamed Maze.

"YOU, you're that jerk from earlier!" yelled Connie.

"This is the navigator you were talking about?" asked Maze to the old man.

"You're the good news, there is no way I'm going on a ship with a jerk like you" said Connie.

"Fine with me I would rather be lost at sea for my whole life then let you be my navigator!" said Maze angrily.

"You son of bi…"

Before Connie could finish her sentence a loud noise sounded throughout the town. The people of the town were running crazy through the streets.

"What the hell is that" screamed Maze over the noise.

"It's the town's alarm" said the old man.

"Alarm for what?" asked Maze.

"Pirates" said Connie.

Pirates have come to Taloon and the town has already erupted into chaos, who are these pirates andwhat plans do they have for Taloon and its people!

A/N: There is chapter 5 everyone I hoped you enjoyed it and the appearance of the first OC. Once again I would like to thanks everyone for reading this story and leaving their reviews.

Now I have something to say about any OCs I receive pass this point it's not a big thing but I would like to ask that when you send me a character pleeeeeese don't make their goal to kill someone that hurt the or someone they care for. I know I'm sound weird saying that especially after revealing that to be Kal's goal it's just that if that is a bunch of people on my crews goal then it's going to get really annoying later in the story but anyway just some food for thought.

I would like to thank missNOBODYa for letting me use her Character Connie Chantilly. Who I am sure will be a great addition to the story. and missNOBODYa. I really hope you liked the way I wrote your character and if not just let me know.

Well that everything guys and gals. Please look forward to chapter 6 and please leave a review see ya next time.


	6. Chapter6:The Siege of the Mecha Pirates!

**Chapter 6: The Siege of the Mecha Pirates!**

* * *

><p>Previously on One Piece: The Next Story- Maze and Kal had docked at the small town of Taloon and began searching for a navigator. While searching for a navigator Maze ran into a young woman by the name of Connie that had somehow trapped him to the ground with some sticky crown substance after an altercation. He later came upon a shop owner that had told him about a young navigator that could go out to sea with him, but it turned out that the young woman, Connie, was the navigator. Maze and Connie got into an argument that was cut short by the towns alarm warning them of a possible attack by pirates. What will this mean for Maze and the others?<p>

* * *

><p>Maze, Connie, and the store owner were all still in the store as the islands alarms started to quiet down.<p>

"Pirates?" questioned Maze.

"Yes pirates, those alarms only go off when the lookout spots a pirate ship heading toward the island" said Connie.

"But that doesn't mean that the pirates are coming to attack, maybe they just want to get some supplies" said Maze.

"That doesn't matter, the people on this island don't like pirates, especially after what happened" said Connie.

Maze stood there with a curious look on his face.

"After what happened?" said Maze.

"Don't worry about it we just have to get to the towns bunker before the pirates land" said Connie as she grabbed the old man and ran through the door of the shop and into the chaos of the towns streets.

Maze followed Connie and the store owner through the streets as they made their way to the bunker. On the way there they ran into a man that was carrying a long telescope over his shoulder.

"Carlos, were you the one that spotted the pirates, which crew was it, who's coming?" yelled Connie to the man with the telescope.

The man turned around, he had a look of terror on his face.

"It's them, the Mecha pirates, they're back!" yelled the man as he ran ahead of Connie and Maze.

Connie stopped moving immediately after she heard the name of the pirates that were coming. Connie looked back at the way they had come from, toward the docks of the town.

"Yelsin, keep heading to the bunker I'll be there as soon as can, okay" said Connie to the old man.

"Connie, this won't change the past, it will only lead you to more pain, please just come with me" pleaded Yelsin.

"I'm sorry I have to do this" said Connie as she made her way toward the docks.

Maze watched as Connie ran away.

"Hey where are you going!" shouted Maze.

Yelsin lowered his head in defeat.

"Martin, Sarah, I'm sorry" said Yelsin to himself.

"Where is she going, I thought the bunker was this way" said Maze.

"She is going after the person that has caused her the most pain in her life" said Yelsin.

"What does that mean?" asked Maze.

"She is going to try and kill the person that murdered her parents" said Yelsin.

* * *

><p>14 years earlier…<p>

A young girl with bright pink hair and around five years of age ran through a store that was covered wall to wall with all kinds of candy and other treats. She ran to a man with combed brown hair and a beautiful woman with long pink hair, next to them was a slightly older girl with short brown hair, they were standing at the stores counter.

"What is it Connie?" asked the woman.

"Mommy, Daddy, look what I can do" said the young girl as she grabbed for a pencil that was resting on the stores counter.

The young girl focused on the pencil in her hand and in less than a second the pencil became a piece of red licorice.

A few days prior to this a few marines were making a stop at Taloon on their way to the marine base a few islands over.

One of the marines had been carrying around a small chest around with him and when he put it down for a moment to rest a curious Connie had snuck up and took what was inside.

Inside of the chest was a pink apricot that was covered in swirls. Connie took a bite of the strange fruit while the marine wasn't looking. She then immediately spat it out because of its horrible taste. She placed the rest of the fruit back into the chest and went back home.

Connie had eaten the yum-yum fruit, which gave her the ability to change anything she wanted into any kind of candy.

"Oh my god" said Connie's mother in amazement.

"Connie, how did you do that?" asked her father.

"I just thought about licorice and poof, there it is" said Connie.

Connie's parents didn't know what to make of what their daughter had just done. They both just looked at each other and tried to think about what they should do.

"Wow that is so cool" said the older girl.

Connie handed the licorice over to the other girl.

"Here you can have it Lil" said Connie.

Lil grabbed the candy and bit into it. A big smile spread over her face from the pure delicious taste of the candy.

"Mom, Dad, this is the best candy I have ever had!" exclaimed Lil.

The parents each took a piece of the licorice for themselves, and just like their daughter they too had a look of pure bliss on their faces.

"Is it really that good, it didn't taste too good when I tried it" said Connie.

"Bumble bee, can you make more candy like this?" asked Connie's father.

"Yeah" said Connie.

From that day onward for two hours a day Connie would make candy to sell to the town's people.

There would be lines of people everyday just to get one piece of Connie's candy and it was thanks to this that Connie learned more about her powers. She learned that not only could she make anything into candy but she could even alter its size, which she learned by making a twenty foot long piece of gum. Another thing she learned was that if she ran low on sugar in her body she wouldn't be able to make anymore candy until she ate something with sugar. The last thing she figured out was that she hated the taste of the candy she made so she only ever ate the candy her parents made.

* * *

><p>After two years of doing this word of Connie's candy spread out to other islands. Soon even pirates started showing up to get some of the candy. The first few pirate crews to show up were friendly and didn't cause any problems, but that changed when the Mecha pirates visited the island.<p>

A man with two gold hooks for hands walked through the doors of the candy shop; he wore a metallic grey coat and tight gold colored pants. His right eye had a bright red tinge to it and he had stitch marks running vertical along it.

"Who is the one making that fancy candy?" asked the man.

Connie's parents went up to the man to talk to him.

"We're sorry sir but we don't sell that candy until a certain time, if you come back then we will be able to help you" said the father.

The pirate had a disgruntled look on his face as he started to break the candy that was all over the store.

The parents just stood in shock of the man going crazy in their store.

"Now I'm going to ask you one more time where is the person that makes the candy, and let me make this clear, I do not like people telling me to wait is that understood" said the pirate with a menacing look in his eye.

"We are not going tell you so just leave!" said the mother angrily.

The parents thought that the pirate was going to rampage in their store again but this time he just stood still and gave them a smile.

"I will be back in a few hours; either you have the person that makes the candy here at that time or fifty barrels filled with the candy by the time I get back or else I'll, well, why don't I just leave that up to your imaginations. Oh and just to make sure you don't try to fill the barrels with your own mediocre candy…"

The man then proceeded to destroy the rest of the candy in the shop.

"Be seeing you soon now" said the pirate as he exited the store.

The parents quickly ran into the back of the store where Connie and Lil were hiding in the corner, scared from the sounds of the pirate destroying the store.

"Daddy, are they going to hurt us?" asked a scared Connie.

"You don't have to worry about that" said her mother kindly.

Connie's father then grabbed a small box out of the back closet and gave it to her.

"Here open this it will make you feel better "said her father.

Inside of the box was a yellow hat and a bumble bee bracelet.

Connie quickly put a smile on her face and put on the hat and bracelet.

"Thank you" said Connie happily.

"Think of it as an early birthday present" said Connie's father as he handed a similar box to Lil.

Inside of that box was a red hat and a belt that had a demon shaped buckle on it.

Lil was also happy with her gifts and gave her parents a big hug.

"Now we need to start getting to work and fast" said the father.

* * *

><p>A few hours had passed but Connie was only able to make enough candy for twenty barrels, and time had run out.<p>

The pirate had walked into the store again, this time with nearly fifty men behind him.

"Well it's that time where is my candy?" said the pirate.

"I'm sorry; we were only able to get twenty barrels full if you give us some more time I'm sure we can…."

Connie's father was cut off mid sentence by the cold steel of the pirates hooks burrowed into his stomach.

"Now, I was sure I told you not to tell me to wait right?" said the pirate.

Connie's father dropped to the floor and was bleeding out from the hole in his stomach.

The mother was frozen in fear.

"Now where is the person that makes the candy?" asked the pirate.

This question snapped Connie's mother back into reality.

"I'm not going to tell you, no matter what you do" said the mother firmly.

"That's fine, boys you know what to do" said the pirate to the men behind him.

"Yes sir Captain Zerif" said one of the men.

The fifty men started destroying the town and attacking its people.

"So, you said there is nothing I can do to make you tell me where the candy maker is right, no matter what I do?" said Zerif as he got closer and closer to the mother.

"That's right" said the mother while standing her ground.

"Okay" said Zerif as he stabbed his hook through the back of her neck.

She dropped next to her husband as they both slowly bleed out.

Connie and Lil witnessed all of this from the back of the store. Soon after the parents were dead Zerif left to join his men as they continued destroying the town.

After the pirates had finally left the island Connie and Lil went to their parents' dead bodies. They both started crying over their parents bodies.

"Lil, what are we going to do?" asked Connie.

"Shut up" said Lil softly.

"What?" said Connie as she stared at Lil.

"I SAID SHUT UP! THIS IS ALL YOU FAULT! If you didn't have those stupid powers this never would have happened. Just get out you don't deserve to be here" said Lil.

"But…."

"I SAID GET OUT!"

Connie ran out of the store and saw all of the destruction that the pirates had inflicted on the town. Buildings were on fire, people were lying dead on the streets, and she was now all alone.

A few weeks later Lil left the village to start over somewhere else. Connie was taken in by Yelsin and was taught everything he knew about navigating in hopes that one day she could sail in search of the Zerif.

"Now that they have come here she's going to do what she had planned to do all this time, please there is no way I can physically stop her, so please stop her for me" said Yelsin to Maze.

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><p>Maze just looked over toward the docks.<p>

Connie had finally reached the docks, as soon as she got there she could see the pirates looting the nearby stores.

"Hey!" yelled Connie.

The pirates all stopped what they were doing and looked over at the young woman that was standing alone in front of them.

"What are you doing here girlie?" asked one of the pirates.

"Yeah, shouldn't you be where ever the other towns people are?" said another pirate.

Connie stood her ground and pulled out two butterfly knives that she had hidden behind her back.

"I'm here to stop you from doing what you did to this place so long ago, so if you want to destroy this place anymore you're going to have to get through me first" said Connie.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Well everyone there's chapter 6 hoped you all enjoyed it. I would like to thank missNOBODYa. again for the use of her characters this time it was Connie's family and Zerif.**

**I just want to thank everyone that has given me critiques on my writing lately it has made me take a second look at my stories for any mistakes I might have missed. I have already edited chapter 1 so if you want to take a look at it go right ahead. If you still find any mistakes please point them out to me because if I didn't notice them the last time I probably won't a second time.**

**So just a reminder I'm still taking OC for marines, villains, supernova, and any unfilled positions on the crew, the template for the OC have been moved to the story forum which is called One Piece: The Next Forum so keep sending those OC in.**

**Alright guys and gals that's all for now so look forward to the next chapter and like always please review. See ya!**


	7. Chapter 7: How to Fight with Candy!

**Chapter 7: How to Fight with Candy!**

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><p>Previously on One Piece: The Next Story- Maze was told of Connie's tragic past with the Mecha Pirates. Now she is confronting those same pirates in hopes of making up for the tragedy she believes she caused.<p>

* * *

><p>The docks of Taloon were in shambles, many of the stores and homes close to the docks were either destroyed or burning to the ground. It was almost the same scene that occurred the last time these pirates came to the island, only this time Connie was determined to make sure that no one would be hurt like she was.<p>

Connie stood in front of the pirates her butterfly blades in her hands, ready to attack them at any moment. A few of the pirates started walking toward her. All of the pirates were wearing gray shirts with a picture of a metal gear on the front of it.

One of the men pulled out a sword from behind his back as he got ahead of the rest of the pirates.

"Well little lady, if you expect to stop us you're going to need a hell of a lot more than those tiny kitchen knives of yours" said the pirate.

"My thoughts exactly" said Connie with a smile on her face.

Connie quickly slammed her hand on the ground.

"Caramel Trap!" yelled Connie.

The ground where the pirates were standing had tuned into extra sticky caramel causing them to be unable to move from where they were.

All of the pirates struggled to get free but that just made them stick to the ground even more.

"Hahahah" laughed one of the pirates.

"What's so funny?" asked Connie.

"This is a nice trick sweet heart, but unless you have a pistol on you you're not going to be able to do anything to us without getting yourself stuck in this stuff" said the pirate as he stopped laughing.

Connie just stared at him with a smirk on her face.

"Well then, I guess it's a good thing I have more than one trick" said Connie.

Connie swung her knives in front of her.

"Lolli Blades!" shouted Connie as her knives became covered in a thick lollipop casing, while still keeping its sharp edge.

Thanks to the candy casing the knives became long enough to reach the pirates and cut right into the pirates, even the ones that were farther away.

The pirates fell over from the pain and force of the knives and now their backs were stuck to the caramel floor.

Connie breathed a sigh of relief.

"Whew, that was easier than I thought it would be, maybe I can really do this" said Connie happily.

Just as Connie had said that she heard something coming from behind her, but before she could react, she was hit hard in the back of her head.

The last thing Connie saw before she lost consciousness was a group of men all of whom were wearing a gray shirt with a metal gear on the front of it

* * *

><p>Connie awoke surrounded by a bunch of men wearing the grey shirts, her arms and legs were bound by rope, her knives were gone, and she was hanging from the front of partially destroyed building.<p>

The area where Connie was being held was similar to where she fought the pirates, buildings were torn down and smashed to pieces, but the debris was moved outward to form makeshift walls and barricades. It looked as though the pirates had planned to hunker down there for some reason.

As Connie looked around some more she noticed something that seemed out of place, directly in front of her was what looked like some kind of throne made entirely out of scrap metal.

On top of the throne was someone Connie could never forget.

His head was completely shaved, he wore a metallic grey coat and tight gold pants, and where his hands should have been were instead a pair of golden hooks. There was no mistake in Connie's mind this person was Zerif, the pirate that killed her parents.

"Who's this boys'?" asked Zerif.

"We found her by the ship sir, she had taken out the men we left to guard it" said one of the pirates.

"Oh really, and how did she do that?" asked Zerif.

"We're not sure captain, we knocked her out as soon as we saw the others were down" said one of the pirates.

"Well then maybe we should ask her then" said Zerif.

Zerif looked right at Connie, his one red eye locked directly on hers.

Connie didn't look away she stared right back at him with pure hatred in her eyes.

"So, little girl, how exactly did someone like you manage to take out over seven of my men?" asked Zerif.

Connie didn't say a word she just continued to stare at Zerif.

"I believe I just asked you a question" said Zerif.

Connie still didn't say a word.

One of Zerif's men spoke up in response to Connie's silence.

"Don't worry captain I'm sure if you give us a little while we'll…"

Zerif's focus shifted from Connie to the pirate who had just spoken, as did that of all the other pirates.

"I'm sorry captain, I …I miss spoke please forgive…."

The pirate was unable to finish his sentence due to Zerif's hook protruding through his neck. Zerif's hook was attached to a long metal cable that was coming out his arm. The cable started retracting back into Zerif's arm, dragging the body of the pirate along with it.

The cable stopped retracting when it got within two feet of Zerif. The impaled pirate was still alive, but barley. The pirate was making gurgling sounds as he started choking on his own blood.

"How many times do I need to say it, I …don't ….like ….being ….told …to ….wait" said Zerif as he dropped the pirate on to the floor.

The entire area was quiet as the man bleed out.

"Now, where were we young lady, oh yes I was asking you, how exactly did you take down my men?" asked Zerif.

"I'll give you a hint, why did you come to this island fourteen years ago?" asked Connie.

Zerif just sat there with a look of confusion on his face.

"Francois, did we come here before?" asked Zerif.

A man dressed in a fancy, powder blue, buttoned up suit, with dark blue hair, and a fencing blade at his side, appeared at Zerif's side.

"Yes captain, in search of a candy maker. The people who sold the candy refused to tell you the identity of the candy maker, so you killed them both and then had us destroy the town" said Francois.

"Oh right, back when I was on my candy kick, now that was a crazy two weeks" said Zerif.

A look of shock fell over Connie's face, and then it was immediately replaced with a look of pure rage.

"TWO WEEKS, YOU KILLED MY PARENTS OVER SOMETHING YOU WERE ONLY INTERESTED IN FOR TWO WEEKS!" screamed Connie.

All eyes fell on Connie who was still hung up on the building.

"Well, to be fair we killed a lot more people than just your parents that day" said Zerif.

That comment just made Connie more enraged; she looked as though she could explode at any second.

"I SWEAR, WHEN I GET DOWN FROM HERE I AM GOING TO KILL YOU WITH MY BARE HANDS YOU FUCKING BASTARD!" screamed Connie.

"Well my dear, as much as I would love to see how you would accomplish that, I'm afraid you will not have the chance" said Zerif.

Zerif pointed his hook at Connie, ready to skewer Connie, just as he had the pirate before.

"Good bye, my dear" said Zerif as he fired his hook.

Connie prepared for her imminent demise.

Just as the hook was about to strike, a giant arm grabbed the metal cable, and swung it causing Zerif to slam into a nearby building.

Maze now stood in-between the Mecha Pirates and Connie.

"What the hell are you doing here and how did you do that?" asked Connie.

"Would it kill you to just say thank you" said Maze somewhat annoyed.

* * *

><p>Back on Maze's ship, Kal had just woken up from his deep sleep to find a note attached to his shirt. He took it off his shirt and began to read it<p>

Dear, Kal

I tried to wake you up, but no matter what I did, it didn't work so I decided to search the island on my own. So if you wake up before I get back just catch up.

Signed, Maze

"What island?" said Kal to himself?

Kal went up to the deck of the ship and saw the many burning buildings and destroyed houses of Taloon.

"What the hell did I miss!" yelled Kal.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: well there's chapter 7 everyone I hoped you enjoyed it. I would like to thank all those that have reviewed my story and added it to their favorite list. **

**I would like to ask anyone that wants to get more into the story, to visit the forum.**

**One Piece: The Next Forum.**

**Where you can talk about the story with others that have read it, start your own thread, and even submit your OC for a chance to have it appear in the story.**

**Thanks again everyone. So that's all guys and gals, and remembers to review and look forward to chapter 8.**


	8. Chapter8Pirate vs Pirate Maze let Loose!

**Chapter 8: Pirate vs. Pirates - Maze lets Loose!**

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><p>Previously on One Piece: The Next Story- Connie had chosen to take on the Mecha pirates on her own and after defeating a few of them, she believed she could do it, but shortly after she was taken by surprise and then found herself bound and hanged self bound and hanged in front of the Mecha pirates. After losing her temper, she was about to be killed by Zerif, but at the last second she was saved but Maze, and he had thrown Zerif into a nearby building.<p>

* * *

><p>Maze stood in between the pirates and Connie. They were all staring at the building where Zerif was just thrown into, it had collapsed immediately after Zerif crashed into it, and now Zerif was somewhere underneath all of the rubble.<p>

All of the pirates now looked over at Maze who was just standing there, his hands in his pockets and talking to Connie, as if there were no one else around.

"What are you waiting for, get me down from here" said Connie.

"Not until you say thank you for saving your life" said Maze.

"I never asked you to do that" said Connie somewhat annoyed.

"Oh, so you would have preferred I let you die then?" said Maze.

"Don't twist my words around" said Connie.

"Yeah, it's not fun when someone does that to you huh" said Maze.

The Mecha pirates finally got tired of being ignored and charged at Maze.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" yelled the pirates.

Maze turned around to see the pirates coming at him with their weapons drawn.

The pirates were armed with swords, chains and axes with anger in their eyes.

"I think you should stay up there, that way you won't get I'm my way" said Maze to Connie.

"Oh yeah, and how are you gonna take them all down?" asked Connie.

"Did you really think you were the only one to ever eat a Devil Fruit" said Maze.

Maze faced the direction the pirates were coming from, he put his hands on his knees, and then his legs grew to 2xs their original length and 4xs the width.

"Muscle Charge" yelled Maze.

He pushed off the ground with his now super muscled legs toward the charging pirates, right before making contact he turned his legs back to normal and buffed up his arms like he usually did. The force of his velocity plus the added bulk of his arms turned Maze into a human battering ram as he crashed through the Mecha pirates.

The pirates that had taken Maze's attack were now slammed to the side and unconscious, the ones that remained were now a bit hesitant.

"What are you doing fools, he is only one man" said Francois.

Francois quickly raised his epee; a type of fencing sword with a 90cm blade that reached from the tip to the bell shaped guard.

"Marksmen, FIRE!" yelled Francois.

A group of marksmen stood and fired straight at Maze.

"Muscle Guard" yelled Maze.

Maze increased the girth and hardness of his muscles till they covered most of his body, his hardened muscles was able to stop the bullets from penetrating his body, but it didn't stop the pain of being shot.

"Fire again" said Francois.

"Muscle Jump" yelled Maze.

Before the pirates could shoot again, Maze increased his leg muscles again and jumped high up into the air.

The pirates followed Maze with their eyes, but they lost him when the brightness of the sun blinded them.

"Muscle crash" yelled Maze as he came crashing to the ground.

The force from Maze's landing scattered the marksmen. He quickly collected the marksmen's guns and destroyed them, but he had missed one, and the pirate took aim at Maze's head.

"Candy Hammer" said Connie as she slammed a huge hammer made of rock candy onto the marksmen's head.

"How did you get down?" asked Maze.

Connie pointed to where she was being hung from; the rope she was tied with was now bubble gum and had stretched down to the ground.

"And now we're even" said Connie as she leaned against her hammer.

"I never asked you to save me" said Maze.

Connie stood there with an annoyed look on her face.

"Do you really want to go through all that again, or would you rather taking down these assholes?" asked Connie.

"The second one" said Maze with a smile on his face.

Maze and Connie stood back to back with each other, Maze buffed up his arms again and Connie picked up her candy hammer.

"Don't let them scare you, I will call for the reinforcements, hold them there" said Francois.

The pirates that were left surrounded Maze and Connie, the pirates charged at the two of them with everything that they had.

Maze swung at the pirates on his side with his buffed arm, the pirates were tossed aside with ease, a bunch of the pirates jumped at Connie, but before they made contact she changed the shape of her weapon.

"Candy Shield" yelled Connie as her hammer shifted into a circular shape.

The shield stopped the pirates attack, and Connie capitalized on that.

"Candy Canes" yelled Connie as a bunch of candy staffs shot out of the shield and struck the pirates.

As the fight went in it seemed as though Maze and Connie would end this in a matter of minutes that is until a large sound came from behind them.

A half giant had appeared from behind a couple of buildings that he had demolished in order for him to get through.

He stood at 15 feet tall, he was nothing but a loin cloth, he had a short red pony tail at the top of his heads, and he carried a giant axe with him that was covered in blood.

"Francois what did you call me for, I was having fun" said the giant man.

"Bunt, unless you have gone blind in the last two hours you should see the kind of situation we are in" said Francois.

Bunt looked around to see his crew mates all over the ground and two people he had never seen before standing over them. Bunt fell into a rage and swung his giant axe at the duo.

The axe was about to reach Connie when Maze caught it at the base of the axe head, with his giant arm. Bunt tried to push his axe further but Maze's strength was too much.

"How are you doing this?" said Bunt angrily.

"Connie you deal with the rest of the small fries, I got the big guy here" said Maze confidently.

Connie nodded and went after the remaining pirates.

"DIE!" yelled Bunt.

Bunt lifted his axe and swung it down toward Maze's head. Maze buffed his legs and moved far out to the side, and away from Bunt's axe. Maze quickly jumped back toward Bunt's side, leaving a foot shaped crater in the ground where he was standing.

"High Speed Muscle Punch" yelled Maze as he sent a flying punch into Bunts side.

Bunt was knocked into a large pile of rubble; his axe fell out of his hand and landed on the ground where he had stood.

Bunt slowly got back up onto his feet; it was obvious he had taken damage, but not enough to take him out. Bunt charged at maze with everything he had. Maze buffed up both arms and pulled them behind his back.

"I'm going to crush you!" yelled Bunt as he almost reached Maze.

"Double Muscle Punch" said Maze.

Maze shot his arms from behind his back and nailed Bunt in the stomach with both of his arms. The strength of both arms was able to send Bunt flying over three hundred yards away.

With the semi giant taken care of Maze looked over to see how Connie was doing. What Maze saw was Connie being held up by the neck by Francois who had his epee drawn in his right hand.

Maze started heading over to help Connie when he felt something wrap around his ankle. Maze looked down to see what it was, it was a metal cable.

Maze was immediately pulled backward toward a destroyed a building. Maze used his arms to loosen the grip the cable had on his leg to get free.

"You didn't really think throwing me into a building was going to be enough to beat me, did you" said Zerif as he emerged from the rubble of the building.

"How did you survive a building falling on you?" asked Maze.

As Zerif got up, Maze noticed his face; there were patches of metal plating underneath his skin. There was also skin missing from around his right eye, now his red eye could be seen for what it was a robotic eye. Maze now knew why Zerif was able to stand up as if nothing had happened, after a building had fallen on top of him, he was a cyborg.

"Francois make sure you kill that girl, I want mister muscles to myself" said Zerif with a smile.

"Of course captain" said Francois also with a smile on his face.

Maze took a good look at his situation.

"If I don't help Connie she'll die, but if I turn my back on Zerif, then we might both die, we need a miracle" thought Maze.

Francois raised his epee to finish off Connie, when something interrupted him.

"Flash Slash" said Kal as he slashed at Francois arm.

Francois quickly let go of Connie and drew back his arm just before Kal cut through it.

"Maze what the hell is going on?" asked Kal.

"Kal take care of that guy, I'll explain everything when this is over "said Maze.

"Fine with me" said Kal as he got ready fight.

"You have no idea the kind of pain you are about to be in" said Francois.

"Funny, I was about to say the same thing" said Kal.

* * *

><p>AN: Well there's chapter 8 everyone I hoped you liked it. And I would like to apologize now if you have issues with the fight scenes, they are definitely my weakest point when it comes to writing so just please forgive me for it until I get better at writing them thank you.

Now it was brought to my attention that I should put up a updated position list for my story so here it is.

**Positions: Crew**

**Captain: taken**

**First mate: taken**

**Navigator: taken**

**Sniper: currently taken (but I will still take any submissions if the character is better then who I have picked so far)**

**Cook: taken**

**Doctor: taken**

**Shipwright: open**

**Musician: open**

**I will also take any other positions like beast tamer, historian, look out, archer, or even just straight up fighters so long as they are good characters so give it your all in the creative department.**

* * *

><p><strong>Position: Marines<strong>

**Fleet admiral: open (if you decide to make a character for this position please makes sure him or her are awesome)**

**Admirals**

**Taken**

**Taken**

**Open**

* * *

><p><strong>Shichibuki: all positions open please make note of crew name and any crew members of note if any.<strong>

**Vice admirals: all spots open**

* * *

><p><strong>Pirate Captains: can never have enough<strong>

* * *

><p><strong>Positions: super novas<strong>

**I haven't yet decided how many I will actually use so just throw however many you want at me. Please make sure to include what you would like their crew to be called and any members of note you would like them to have or I will decide for myself.**

* * *

><p><strong>Pirate crews: Can never have enough. Please note whether good or evil.<strong>

* * *

><p><strong>Please know that since this is the one piece world any type of ability or power you can think of is pretty much on the table, so whatever you can think of, use it you don't just have to use the abiltys that have already appeared in the one piece universe so be as creative as you want. <strong>

**On that side note this story does take place 60 years after luffy finds one piece so you can assume all Devil Fruit users that have been mentioned have died so you can use abilities that have been introduced (i.e ace or kumas Devil Fruit ) into the cannon story all I ask is that you make the characters personality and appearance different from the original character also please don't let any chacters you create be related in anyway to any cannon characters again be creative that's**** all guys**

* * *

><p><strong>So with that taken care of I would like to say thanks to all who read and review. Also I will be doing something a little different in the author notes this time so if you like it let me know. And as always talk to you soon guys and gals, and don't forget to look forward to the next chapter.<strong>

**Chapter 9: Speed vs. Speed- The Swordsmen Clash!**


	9. Chapter9SpeedvsSpeedThe Swordsmen Clash!

**Chapter 9: Speed vs. Speed-The Swordsmen Clash!**

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><p><strong>Previously on One Piece: The Next Story- Maze and Connie had found themselves surrounded by the Mecha Pirates. They were more than capable of dealing with them until a bigger problem arrived. A half giant by the name of Bunt had shown up as the Mecha Pirates reinforcements, Maze had decided to deal with the giant, leaving Connie to handle the rest of the pirates. After making short work of Bunt, Maze looked over to see Connie was defeated by the first mate of the Mecha pirates Francois. Before Maze could help Connie, he was stopped by a revived Zerif, who it turned out was a cyborg. Maze knew he couldn't turn to help Connie with Zerif there, without running the risk of them both dying. Luckily Kal showed up and saved Connie from Francois, now Kal is about to face off with the Mecha pirates swordsman.<strong>

* * *

><p>Kal kept eye contact with Francois, who had already drawn his epee. This was the first time Kal had ever seen a sword like this, it had no edge so that meant that it couldn't cut, but Kal also noticed that at the point of the sword was a metal ball.<p>

"Hey, how do you expect to hurt me with a sword that doesn't have an edge or point" said Kal.

"Oh you'll see" said Francois with a devilish grin on his face.

Francois lunged at Kal with his epee, Kal blocked the strike with his sheath, Francois quickly pulled his sword back and repeated his strike this time with more speed, and once again Kal was able to block the attack.

"What do you say we speed this up a bit" said Francois.

Francois bent his elbow as far back as it could go.

"Choc Rafale!" said Francois.

Francois unleashed a flurry of thrusts that moved so fast it seemed as though his arm had disappeared. Kal blocked as many of the blows as he could but one was able to get through and hit his shoulder.

Kal immediately felt a surge of electricity flow through his, body leaving him stunned and unable to move.

Francois took advantage of this and spun around and kicked Kal square in the gut, sending him hurtling back.

Kal, who was still feeling the effects of the electric shock, got back on his feet and placed his left hand on his sheath and his right hand on the hilt of his sword.

"How the hell did you do that?" asked Kal.

"What, did you think the captain was the only one with a few tricks under his sleeve" said Francois.

"Fine, if that's how you want to do this, then let's really get this started, First stance: Flash Slash!" said Kal.

Kal's whole body became a blur as he drew close to Francois. Kal made a vertical slice at Francois, but at the last moment Francois threw out his attack.

"Choc Rafale!" said Francois.

Francois' thrusts were flying at Kal. Kal was forced to stop before he came in contact with the electrified sword again.

"Just as I thought, you can't change direction during that attack" said Francois with a smug grin on his face.

Kal stayed quiet, the fact that he could not turn while using the first stance had never been found out before, and he had to think of a way to break through Francois guard without getting hit by his sword.

"There has to be a way to get in close, but now that he found out the first stances weakness that won't be easy, especially with that sword of his, but no weapon or technique is perfect, his must have some kind of weakness" thought Kal.

"Are you just going to stand there or are you going to actually attack me" said Francois who still had that smug grin on his face.

"You know talking in the middle of a fight isn't the best idea" said Kal.

"Well considering our vast difference in skill and speed, I think I'll take my chances" said Kal.

Kal had an annoyed look on his face from Francois comment, he had been training for years on his speed and his skills, and here was this person that used tricks and gadgets to win his fights. This reminded Kal of something hi s sensei had told the class once.

"So long as you stay calm and keep your eyes on the enemy, you will always find a way to win" said Kal to himself.

"What was that?" said Francois.

"Just me remembering a really good piece of advice that's going to help me beat you" said Kal as he readied to attack once again.

Francois didn't respond to the comment he just prepared his own attack.

Kal entered his first stance again, keeping his gaze on Francois' weapon.

"First Stance!" yelled Kal as he soared straight at Francois.

Francois repeated what he done the last time Kal used this tactic.

"Choc Rafale!" said Francois as he lunged, his sword at Kal in the hopes of paralyzing him again, this time ending him in the process.

But this time something was different, although Kal was coming straight at Francois, none of his thrusts made contact. Kal had gone under Francois epee and out of the danger of his electrified strikes.

Kal was finally in close enough to do some damage.

"Flash Slash!" yelled Kal as he sent a vertical slash at Francois' chest.

"Ahhhh!" yelled Francois in pain.

But Kal was not finished with his attack. He put his sword back in its sheath and held it horizontally in front of himself, his left hand firmly on the sheath and his right hand on the hilt.

"Third Stance: Crescent Cut!" yelled Kal as he pulled both of his arms back, creating a crescent shaped slash in the blink of an eye.

A horizontal gash appeared on Francois body causing him to fall back in pain, his two wounds oozing blood.

"How, you were coming right at me, I thought you could only move in one direction when you used that move" said Francois.

Kal looked down at Francois.

"You're right, I can't change direction when using Flash Slash, but I can change the angle" said Kal with a smirk.

With his fight taken care of, Kal looked over to see how Maze was doing.

Maze had both of his arms muscled up and he was being held at bay by Zerif's hooks and cables, the metal cables were thrashing about in a chaotic manner which made finding an opening almost impossible. But Maze was somehow able to find an opening in the chaos. He pumped up his legs and charged right through the gap.

While all of this was happening Kal noticed something Maze didn't. The gap that was made was made intentionally by Zerif, and one of his hooks was heading right for where Connie was laying.

Kal moved as fast as he could and picked up Connie before the hook could hit her, but he was a step too late and he took the hit from the hook right in his side.

Kal dropped Connie as he was knocked away.

Before Maze made contact with Zerif, he noticed that he was looking at something behind him. Maze turned to see Kal be hit with the hook.

"Kal!" screamed Maze.

Maze felt the cold steel of the cable wrap around his ankle. He was lifted up off the ground and slammed down repeatedly.

"I think you have own problems boy, I suggest you get serious" said Zerif as he let go of Maze's leg.

Maze stared at Zerif; he was finally ready to unleash all of his anger on this scumbag of a pirate.

Maze stood up slowly from the ground due to the pain from Zerif's last attack.

"Fine, if you want me to get serious, then I'll get serious!" said Maze as he charged at Zerif.

At the neighboring Marine Base-

In a dark white and blue room with a long, horizontal, wooden table stood a tall man with lightly tanned skin and blonde hair. He was staring at a wall that had a video being projected by a den-den mushi.

"Yes how can I help you Vice Admiral Chum" said the blonde man.

A puffer fish fishman in a vice admiral uniform was projected on the wall of the room.

"Captain Gran, I have received word of a wanted pirate named Zerif on an island close to your location I, want you to go there and apprehend him and his crew" said the Vice Admiral.

"Of course Vice Admiral, I will head out there immediately" said Captain Gran.

The den-den mushi video cut off and the lights in the room came on.

Captain Gran exited the room and addressed the marines waiting outside.

"Get ready everyone, were going pirate hunting" said Gran.

"Yes sir captain" said all the marines in unison.

The marines set sail toward Taloon.

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><p><strong>AN: well there's chapter 9 everyone.**

**Now believe me when I say I loved writing this chapter just for that part at the end for so many reasons that only I know at the moment. Now I don't plan on spoiling anything so I'm going to leave it at that. Now for the 9****th**** time I would like to thank all those that have reviewed my story. We're coming up to chapter 10 which I didn't even know if I was going to make it to, but thanks to all your words of encouragement and your characters that have kept me to want to keep writing and get to this point, so to make a long story short thank you all.**

**Now don't forget to review if you liked this chapter or any chapter and keep sending in those OCs. And don't forget to visit the forum where you can talk about any topic you want and submit your OCs**

** myforums/Raverns/5899739/**

**That's all for now guys and gals see you all at the next chapter.**

**Chapter 10: Captain vs. Captain- The Battle Begins! **


	10. Chapter 10: Captain vs Captain!

**Chapter 10: Captain vs. Captain- The Battle Begins**

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><p><strong>Previously on One Piece: The Next Story- Kal had entered the battle with the Mecha Pirates and was fighting against their first mate Francois. After a hard fought battle Kal emerged victorious. Meanwhile Maze was fighting against the Mecha Pirates captain, Zerif. During the battle, Zerif attempted to kill Connie, who was still unconscious on the ground at the time. Luckily Kal noticed this and saved her just in time, but unfortunately took the attack himself. Maze now faces the terrible cyborg Zerif, as their true battle is about to finally begin.<strong>

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><p>Maze and Zerif locked eyes as they prepared to attack each other. Maze quickly buffed his legs and charged at Zerif. Zerif did something unexpected; he shot out metal cables from his legs sending him nearly forty feet into the air, he then retracted the cables. Maze went crashing into the wall Zerif had been standing in front of.<p>

Maze got back up quickly, he changed his legs back and buffed his arms, he grabbed some pieces of the wall he had crashed into and threw them at Zerif. Zerif was knocked back by the debris and he fell to the ground.

Before Zerif could get back up, Maze jumped over to where he fell.

"Muscle Punch!" yelled Maze as he slammed his fist right into Zerif's gut.

Zerif's body was pushed a few inches deeper into the ground, but that wasn't enough to stop him, he quickly counter attacked.

"Cannon Fire!" yelled Zerif as a small canon ball shot out of his chest.

Maze was able to defend himself with his left arm just in time, but he was still sent flying back by the force of the cannon.

Maze was able to get back up, but his left arm had taken a good amount of damage and was bleeding.

Zerif finally got back on his feet, he now had a small cannon protruding from his chest.

"Not a bad move there kid, but you gonna have to do better than that to bust through my metal" said Zerif as he pounded his hook on his chest causing a metallic sound to ring out.

"He's right, I have to hit him with something stronger then my regular muscle punches if I want to take him out." thought Maze.

Maze took off his vest and wrapped it around his arm to stop the bleeding. He then, without any of his body buffed, he placed his arms bent in front of him and charged at Zerif. Zerif shot out his hooks while Maze was still far away, but Maze brought out a new trick, as the hook was about to hit he swayed his body to the side so that the attack flew right past him. Zerif then swung the cable back at Maze, but he quickly ducked under the cable and dodging the incoming attack. Maze kept swaying and ducked all of Zerif's attacks, while at the same time getting closer and closer to Zerif, until he once again fired his cannon. Maze jumped into the air and over the cannon ball. Maze then shot a punch at Zerif's head. At first Zerif wasn't worried, Maze was a bit too far for his punch to connect, until Maze buffed up his arm, which gave him enough of a reach to hit Zerif square on the chin.

"Muscle Right Hook!" yelled Maze as Zerif was sent flying sideways.

Maze landed on his feet and de-buffed his arm.

"How do like my hook, you wannabe tin man" teased Maze.

Maze turned around to check on Kal and Connie, but when he did, he was hit in the back by Zerif's foot which was stretched out from where he was lying.

Maze fell, face first into the ground.

Zerif now stood back up and was slowly walking toward Maze.

"I have to admit it kid; I didn't think you were going to put up such a good fight. How about we stop this fighting and you join my crew" said Zerif.

Maze got back up and looked Zerif right in his eyes.

"There is no way in hell I would ever be a part of a crew that could just choose to destroy an entire island on a whim, kill innocent people, and ruin so many peoples' lives. So screw off" said Maze.

Zerif just put a very aggressive look on his face.

"Well, if that is how you feel, then I guess there's no point in outing this off any more then" said Zerif.

Zerif's hook started to change shape; the metal uncurled and formed a straight point. Zerif then pointed his new, spear like appendage, at Maze.

"Any last words before I skewer you" said Zerif menacingly.

Maze looked up and gave a small smirk.

"Muscle Push" said Maze as he buffed his right arm and pushed himself from where he was lying.

Maze landed about a hundred feet away.

"Damn it I thought Muscle Hook would do the trick. I guess his metal plating is harder than I thought, but there is no way he can take to much more, if I can land a few more good hits on him, he should crumble" thought Maze.

As Maze was preparing for his next attack, Zerif had already made his move; he shot his spear straight at Maze's chest. Maze quickly got out of the way but was nicked on his arm, leaving a deep cut. This was only the first of Zerif's barrage as he swung his metal cable leg right at Maze; he quickly ducked under the cable and grabbed it as it flew over his head.

Maze then proceeded to toss Zerif around like a rag doll just as he had done to Maze earlier. Maze continued this action, until he threw Zerif as hard as he could on to the ground.

"Try getting back up from that you damn bastard" said Maze as he was finally starting to feel the fatigue from the fight.

Zerif once again shot out his cables, but this time it came out of his neck, his head, came flying right toward Maze, but it stopped as soon as it was in front of his face.

"Bright Flare" said Zerif as a bright light came out of his red eyes and shown right into Maze's.

Maze closed his eyes instinctively, but it was already too late.

"MY EYES, I CAN'T SEE!" yelled Maze as he had his hands covering his eyes.

Zerif capitalized on this, he got back up on his feet, and once again began his attack.

Zerif fired his spear at Maze's heart, but due to the throwing around earlier, Zerif's leg had taken too much damage and gave out on him. The spear barley missed Maze's heart, and imbedded into his shoulder.

"Ahhhh!" yelled Maze from the pain of the spear.

Maze jumped back as far as he could, which caused the spear to come out of his shoulder.

"Great now I can't see him, I have to focus and figure out a way to hit him without being killed" thought Maze.

Even with his leg not working properly, Zerif was still going on the attack; he centered himself on the ground and fired his spear, this time aiming for Maze's head.

Maze did not know the attack was coming, it seemed as though, this time, the attack would connect. That is until another miracle happened.

"Move twenty degrees left!" yelled Connie who was still lying on the ground.

Maze heard Connie's orders and did as such and swayed his body twenty degrees to the left. The spear once again missed its target and instead only hit empty air.

Zerif adjusted himself this time firing his left hook at Maze instead.

"Move sixteen degrees right!" yelled Connie.

Again Maze followed the instructions, and the attack completely missed him.

"Thanks Connie" said Maze.

"No problem, now listen you be the body and I'll be the eyes, I'll guide you to him" said Connie.

"Great, then let's finish this!" said Maze.

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><p><strong>AN: Well everyone there's chapter 10.**

**I would like to apologize, I had planned to release this sooner, but things got a little crazy so I had to push it back to today. **

**So I would like to say thanks to everyone who has helped and encouraged me to get to this point. (Chapter 10 Hell Yeah)**

**And also not to forget to review this chapter and to check out the story's forum where you can submit any of your OCs or just talk about the story with others who have been reading. ** myforums/Raverns/5899739/****

**So as always, that's all for now guys and gals and until next time stay awesome!**

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><p><strong>Now, will Connie be able to get Maze close enough to Zerif so that he can finish this battle to restore order to the island and get Connie her revenge. You will have to check out the next chapter to find out. <strong>

**Chapter 11: Navigating the Blind-The Battles Conclusion!**


	11. Chapter 11: Navigating the Blind!

**Chapter 11: Navigating the Blind-The Battle's Conclusion!**

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><p><strong>Previously on One Piece: The Next Story- Maze and Zerif were continuing their battle, and Zerif had revealed that his arms weren't the only things filled with metal cables. After a hard fought battle Maze had finally believed he had won, but Zerif pulled out his final trump card, a bright flash that blinded Maze. Just when it seemed as though the battle was lost, a miracle happened in the form of Connie waking up and guiding Maze in his blind state. Now the conclusion to the battle draws close as our heroes bet everything on this final chance.<strong>

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><p>Maze stood firm as he got ready to attack Zerif, hopefully for the final time.<p>

Zerif was standing across from Maze, about one hundred feet away, he was radiating with pure rage. He couldn't stand that every time he was about to be done with Maze and the others, something or someone got in his way. Zerif was more than ready to end, what he felt, was the most annoying battle he had ever been in.

"Connie, where is he now?" asked Maze.

"Zerif is right in front of you, charge at him with everything you have!" yelled Connie.

Maze did just as Connie said; he buffed his legs and charged with everything he had left.

The ground around where Maze had dashed from had scattered and dented from the force of his kick off. As soon as he started moving, Maze quickly turned his legs back to normal.

Zerif was ready for this; Maze had already used this same move on Bunt, the half giant of his crew. He shot out both of his metal cables and fired his chest canon; three separate attacks came soaring at Maze at incredible speeds.

"Jump up high!" yelled Connie"

Maze followed the instructions and quickly jumped as high as he could with his normal legs.

The cannon ball flew right underneath Maze, but the metal cables on the other hand did not.

Zerif knew that Maze would try to dodge his attacks by going above them, with this information he was able to change the direction of the cables in mid attack so that they were heading right for where Maze was.

"Maze turn now and grab his arms!" screamed Connie.

Maze wasn't sure what Connie was talking about, he couldn't tell that Zerif had changed the trajectory of his attacks, and that he was basically a sitting duck, but Connie hadn't steered him wrong so far, so he trusted her.

Maze buffed his arms one at a time, using the change in his weight to turn in mid air; he then reached his arms out and closed his hand tight on what was in front of him.

Maze was shocked when he felt the cold metal of Zerif's arm cables in his hands. Both the hook and spear at the ends of the cables were just millimeters from Maze's face, half a second later, and he could have been killed.

Maze pulled on the cables, and in doing so, made Zerif come flying toward him.

Zerif was first pulled underneath Maze due to the curvature of the attack; he slammed against the ground shortly afterward, and was then hurtling to where Maze was.

"Maze, hit him!" yelled Connie once again.

And just like all the other times, Maze follows her directions without question. He held a tight grip on Zerif's left cable; he then swung his left arm as hard as he could.

"Muscle Left Hook" yelled Maze as his huge fist made contact with Zerif's head.

The force of the attack flung Zerif to the side, and due to Maze's tight grip on his cable it was ripped right out of his shoulder.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" yelled Zerif, apparently due to the fact that his nerves were attached to the cables.

"Alright Maze just a bit more and he's done for" said Connie triumphantly.

With the combination his arm being ripped off and being made a fool of by a bunch of no name brats, Zerif could no longer deal with the sound of Connie's instructions and comments.

"WHY WON'T YOU JUST UP!" yelled Zerif.

Zerif hastily fired his spear hand at where Connie was still laying.

Connie tried to move out of the way of the attack, but was still feeling the effects of her fight with Francois, and her blood sugar was too low to make anything that could deflect the attack.

"Maze help!" yelled Connie.

Maze ran in the direction of Connie's voice, but Connie knew that Maze wouldn't be able to make it in time.

Connie tucked her head down and closed her eyes.

"I'm sorry mom, I'm sorry dad" said Connie in a defeated voice.

It was then that Connie heard the sound of metal cutting through metal. When she opened her eyes, she saw Kal standing in front of her, his blade drawn and the front end of Zerif's right cable lying on the ground.

"That ….was for ….my ribs" said Kal as he clutched his side and fell to the ground.

Connie was now looking at a defenseless and handless Zerif standing right in front of her.

"Maze, he's right in front of you hit him with everything you got!" yelled Connie.

Zerif turned around to defend himself, but it was too late, and as it turned out turning around was the worst thing he could have done.

Maze was finally starting to get his eyesight back and he could now partially see Zerif, and that was all he needed. Maze dipped right underneath Zerif's chin and then with his arm shot a vertically rising punch at.

"Muscle Uppercut!" yelled Maze as his fist made contact with Zerif's chin.

The uppercut literally knocked Zerif's head off of the rest of his body. His head landed clear on the other side of the island. The rest of Zerif's body immediately went limp and fell flat onto the ground.

The battle with the Mecha Pirates had finally come to a close and Maze could finally relax, which he did by falling right down where he stood.

"Hey, Connie" said Maze.

"Yeah" said Connie.

"I know we got off on the wrong foot and everything, and I would understand if you said no to this but would you…" said Maze before he was cut off.

"Yes, I will" said Connie.

"What?" said Maze?

"Yes, I will join your crew" said Connie.

"Actually, I was just gonna ask if you could show me where that bakery where I got the cinnamon buns was, but yeah it would be great if you joined my crew" said Maze with a smile.

Connie had an annoyed look on her face, but that quickly changed into a smile, because she knew if she sticked with Maze that a whole new world of adventure was coming her way.

"Hey Kal, we finally got a navigator" said Maze happily.

Kal stood up still clutching his side.

"Maze, as happy as I am, do you think we could save the celebration for after we see a doctor" said Kal.

Maze stood up himself, and was finally feeling the full brunt of the fight he just had.

"Yeah that would be a good idea" said Maze.

Maze and Kal helped Connie up and they all walked together for the first time as nakama.

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><p><strong>AN: Well everyone there's chapter 11 for ya, and finally Zerif gets what's coming to him. I have to admit I felt a little too happy when I was writing about Maze literally knocking his head off. Now with this chapter we are officially done with the Mecha Pirates arc and will be moving into the next where you will meet another member of the crew, but not before one last chapter to add little more to the world. So please look forward to that and every other chapter.**

**And I would like to apologize for the late release of this chapter, I had a lot of things come up at once so had to put this on the back burner for a little while, but all of that is over now, and as a way to make it up to you I will be releasing the next chapter no later than tomorrow which should be Monday if you live in my time zone, so talk to you all tomorrow.**

**I would like to remind all those who would like to, to leave a review, favorite the story, and maybe visit the forum where you can submit your own characters and maybe have them appear in the story, and talk about what you like or don't like with others who have read the story. myforums/Raverns/5899739/**

**That's all for now guys and gals, so as always look out for the next chapter and stay awesome!**

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><p><strong>Next time on One Piece: The Next Story!- Our heroes get ready to set sail for their next adventure, but someone from Maze's past looks to stop that. Who is this person and what does he have against Maze? Check out the next chapter to find out!<strong>

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	12. Chapter 12: The Last Battle in Taloon!

Chapter 12: The Last Battle in Taloon- The Marines Arrive!

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><p>Previously on One Piece: The Next Story! - Maze was blinded by one of Zerif's weapons and was unable to defend himself, let alone go on the offensive. Luckily Connie had regained he consciousness and was able to be Maze's eyes. With some luck and a miracle or two our heroes were able to beat the odds and emerge victorious. After the hard fought battle Connie had decided to join Maze's crew as the navigator. Now Maze, Kal, and Connie are receiving treatment for the wounds that they obtained during the battle.<p>

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><p>Our heroes entered the town's clinic where an elderly man in a white lab coat was, tending to some of the villagers that were attacked by the Mecha Pirates.<p>

The doctor was just finishing up with his last patient when he noticed Maze and the others. After seeing what kind of state they were in, he had them all sit down in some of the few empty bed that he had left, he then proceeded to work on them.

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><p><strong>A few hours later-<strong>

Maze was standing against a wall in the towns' doctor's office. His shoulder was wrapped up tightly with bandages; he also had his eyes checked, to make sure that Zerif's weapon hadn't done any permanent damage. Thankfully his eyes were fine and hadn't suffered any irreparable damages.

Kal was sitting down on one of the chairs in the office, he had his shirt off and you could see that his stomach was wrapped tightly all around, this was due to the seven broken ribs he got from Zerif's attack, but this was the only real damage he got from the fight, so he considered himself lucky, especially when compared to Connie.

Connie was laying down in one of the clinic's beds, she had suffered many contusions all over her body, mainly due to Francois; she was also still a little numb from his paralyzing attack. Her blood sugar was also incredibly low from using her Devil Fruit abilities so much, on top of the damage she had received afterward, but after a few buckets of candy her blood sugar was back to normal, the doctor said that she should spend the night so that he could monitor her in the event that she also had a concussion.

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><p><strong>The next day-<strong>

The doctor allowed Connie to go home after verifying that no serious damage was done. When Connie exited the clinic she saw Maze and Kal waiting for her, thanks to some well deserved rest, they both looked better than they did yesterday, although Kal was still feeling some pain in his side despite the pain medicine that the doctor gave him.

The pirates made their way through the now decimated town. The damage done by the Mecha Pirates was mainly done by to the buildings and the port, luckily no damage was done to their ship, and so as soon as they were able to, they could set sail.

They eventually found their way to Yelsin's map shop; it looked as though the Mecha Pirates hadn't made gotten a chance to destroy it before they were distracted by our heroes.

When they entered the shop they saw Yelsin sitting in a chair at the stores counter. Connie ran over to him and hugged him, she was happy to see that he wasn't hurt; Yelsin felt the same about her.

When Connie let go of Yelsin she noticed a few large bags that was right next to him.

"Yelsin, what's that bag for?" asked Connie.

Yelsin picked up one of the bags and handed it to Connie.

"This is all of your belongings, clothes, and some navigating gear and maps that should come in handy for when you're out on the sea" said Yelsin.

Connie was somewhat confused, she hadn't yet told Yelsin that she had decided to become a pirate and set sail with Maze.

"Yelsin, how did you know that I was going to leave?" asked Connie.

Yelsin had a small smile on his face.

"Connie, I have known you for most of your life, and I knew when I heard that those evil pirates were defeated that you and these boys had something to do with it. I just knew that you would soon be leaving to fulfill what you have always wanted to do and see the world" said Yelsin.

Connie got a little teary eyed as she gave Yelsin another hug.

"Thank you for everything Yelsin" said Connie.

"Just make sure to take care of yourself, and never get lost" said Yelsin jokingly.

"Good bye Yelsin" said Connie as she, Maze, and Kal grabbed her bags and headed toward the ship.

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><p><strong>Back on the ship-<strong>

After putting Connie's things into one of the spare rooms, Maze remembered something very important.

"Oh crap, I almost forgot" said Maze as he jumped of the ship and back into the town.

"Forgot what?" said Connie and Kal together.

They quickly ran after Maze in hopes of finding what Maze was doing.

They eventually caught up to him when he was coming out of a small store whose sign had fallen off. Maze was carrying a long cylinder shaped carrier and he had a huge smile on his face.

"Maze, what is that?" asked Connie.

"You'll see" said Maze as he slung the carrier over his shoulder with a huge grin on his face.

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><p><strong>Near the center of the town-<strong>

A tall man with an athletic build, lightly tanned skin, and blonde hair was walking toward where Zerif's headless body was lying. He wore a Marines captain uniform but with black pants instead of the usual blue and white.

"Petty officers, take this thing and secure it on the ship" said the captain.

"Yes Sir Captain Gran!" said a pair of marines.

Captain Gran then proceeded to where a bunch of his men were dragging off what remained of the Mecha Pirates.

"Captain Gran, sir it would seem as though we have detained almost all of the pirates, and will be able to set sail for the Crucible soon" said one of the marines.

Gran turned around with a relaxed look on his face.

"Why in such a rush to leave marine, we just got here and besides I've heard this place has some kind of special candy, and I wanna see if I can find it, besides has Lieutenant Kasuga returned from her search yet?" asked Gran.

"No net yet sir" said the marine.

"Well then, no reason to get so worked up" said Gran.

As Gran turned around he spotted three people walking the streets.

The first was a young woman with pink hair and cap on her head, the second was a tall man with long silver hair and a sword strapped to his right side, but what really caught his attention was the young man with black hair and green vest that was walking between them.

Gran's relaxed face contorted into one of pure rage and hatred.

"MAAAAAAAAZE!" Yelled Gran clear across the courtyard to where Maze and the others were.

Maze and the others turned in the response of Maze's name being yelled. What they saw was Captain Gran; cracks were beginning to appear on his face, his skin became grayish and translucent.

"ASH RAM!" yelled Gran as he shot himself at Maze.

Maze, in one motion, pushed Kal and Connie away to the side and blocked the attack with his now buffed arms.

Maze was knocked back into the remains of a partially destroyed shop and particles of ash had scattered throughout the area. A moment later, the ash came together and there stood Gran, his face was still filled with rage as he looked down at Maze.

"I knew it, I knew it was you, you bastard!" said Gran as he created an arm out of ash, grabbed Maze by the neck, and slammed him hard onto the ground.

"Don't you think I'm going to end you quickly, I'm going to stretch this out for as long as I can, until I feel you have suffered for EVERYTHING YOU HAVE DONE!" yelled Gran.

Back on the streets Kal and Connie saw what was happening to their captain.

"Connie come on we have to help him" yelled Kal.

They both were about to run to help Maze, until they felt something sharp lay against their throats.

As if out of nowhere, a woman around Connie's height, with short black hair, and cold eyes, had gotten in front of them and she was holding a pair of kunai at their necks.

She was wearing a lieutenant's uniform, and had multiple kunai holstered around her waist.

"What the hell, I didn't even sense her, how was she able to get so close" thought Kal.

A second later Maze was seen flying out of the building and crashing hard onto the floor, Gran appeared shortly afterward.

"Lieutenant Kasuga, do not allow those two to interfere with what I'm doing, if they so much as move, kill them" said Gran to the women with the kunai.

Maze saw that Gran wasn't focusing on him; he used this chance to fight back.

"Muscle Punch" yelled Maze as he threw a punch right at Gran's head.

The punch connected and Gran's head tuned into ash, for a second Maze thought he had won, but Gran's head then came back together.

"You call that a punch, let me show you what a real attack can do, Ash Compress" said Gran.

Gran enclosed a ring of ash around Maze, and then began to shrink the ring little by little.

"Ahhhhh!" yelled Maze from the pain of the ring squeezing him.

Kal couldn't just watch as his friend was being killed, but he knew he had to do something about the lieutenant first. Kal positioned his thumb underneath the hilt of his sword, and used his thumb to send the sword straight into the air; the glare of the sun reflected from the sword and hit Kasuga in the eyes, temporarily blinding her.

Kal quickly pushed Connie back and caught his sword.

"Connie go help Maze, I'll handle her" said Kal.

"Okay" said Connie.

Kasuga quickly threw a kunai at Connie, in the hopes of stopping her, but Kal blocked it with his sheath before it even got close.

"Didn't you hear, I said you're fighting me" said Kal as both he and Kasuga charged at each other with their weapons in hand.

Connie was only a few more yards away from where Maze and Gran were, and although she was told to help she didn't know how she was going to do that. Connie had never even seen a logia Devil Fruit user before let alone fought one; she had no idea what she could do to stop him.

Just then Connie thought of something she may be able to do.

* * *

><p>Maze was still holding on despite the pain of the ash ring, luckily his arms were still buffed when Gran placed it or else his ribs and organs would have been crushed by now.<p>

Then Maze saw something he couldn't believe, Connie was running toward him with a bucket in her hand, and as soon as she was close enough she dumped the buckets contents all over Gran.

Gran was now covered in sand.

Maze now had a surprised look on his face, he couldn't figure out why Connie would throw sand on him, that is, until what she did next.

"Taffy Trap" yelled Connie. As the sand that was all over Gran now turned into taffy, which covered him from head to toe.

Gran was trapped he couldn't move at all, even in his ash form, the ash just kept getting stuck to the taffy.

This made Gran lose his focus, and for his ash ring to disappear.

Maze knew this was his only chance. He once again buffed his arms, but something was different this time, Connie noticed that they seemed larger then they had all the other times.

"Muscle Punch" yelled Maze as he made contact with Gran.

Gran was knocked clear onto the island from what Connie had seen; she almost couldn't believe what she had just seen.

"Kal, get over here now!" yelled Maze.

Kal, who was still battling with the lieutenant, quickly backed stepped to where Maze and Connie were.

Just then a bunch of armed marines gathered and surrounded them.

"Stay where you are, or we will open fire" said one of the marines.

Kal was now on Maze's right side while Connie was on his left. Maze wrapped his arms around the both of them.

"Maze, what are you doing?" asked Kal.

"Getting us out of here" said Maze.

Maze then buffed up his legs, and just as Connie noticed his larger arms, Kal noticed his legs were more muscular than usual.

"Muscle Jump" said Maze.

Maze, while holding onto Kal and Connie jumped higher than they had ever seen him do before. They were soaring over buildings and people until they all landed into the ocean next to their ship.

Kal was the first to come up to the surface.

"Maze, what the hell kind of plan was…" Kal stopped talking when he realized that neither Maze nor Connie had surfaced yet.

Kal then remembered that they both were unable to swim. He then swam down to save them. After he pulled them both out of the water and onto land he carried them onto the ship.

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><p><strong>A few hours later on the ship-<strong>

Maze awoke to find Kal in a chair next to him.

"Kal, where's" said Maze.

"Connie's fine, she's steering the ship now" said Kal.

Maze let out a sigh of relief.

"Good, so where are we…Oww" said Maze as he grabbed his arm in hand.

"That's what I wanted to talk to you about" said Kal.

"What do you mean" said Maze very seriously.

"Two things, first, that marine back there, he had something against you, he wanted to kill you just from seeing your face, what was that about, and second, why did it seem as though your arms and legs got way more muscular then they usually do, and don't try to deny it because Connie noticed it to" said Kal.

Maze stood up on his bed.

"Well, to answer your second question, I'm able to make my muscled stronger then what you have seen, but I don't like doing that because it puts a strain on my body and my bones can't take the recoil of my attacks, which is why my hand is hurting right now" said Maze.

"And what about that Marine?" asked Kal.

"I'm not going to talk about that" said Maze while looking away.

"Why not?" asked Kal.

"We all have things we rather not remember this is mine, just leave it at that" said Maze.

Kal looked at Maze for a while before getting up.

"Okay, you're my captain so I trust you, just don't make it a habit of keeping secrets like this" said Kal.

"Fair enough" said Maze.

"Hey, come up on deck we got a surprise for ya" said Kal.

Maze followed Kal up onto the deck, and when he got there he saw a black flag and sail hanging from the mast, with a jolly roger of a spiky haired skull surrounded by a vortex of water.

"You guys opened the tube huh" said Maze.

"Yeah I opened it as soon as we were out to sea" said Connie.

"We were waiting for you to wake up so you could tell us what it's supposed to mean" said Kal.

Maze smiled as he looked at the flag waving at the top of the mast.

"It's our crews name obviously, the Typhoon Pirates" said Maze proudly.

"Why Typhoon Pirates?" asked Connie.

Maze smiled at her.

"Because their crazy" said Maze.

* * *

><p><strong>Later that night on the ship-<strong>

Maze was dreaming of a large green meadow, the only other person there was a small girl with long black hair and a huge grin on her face.

"Come on Maze, were gonna be late for the festival "said the little girl as she pulled on Maze's arm.

But almost immediately the scene became covered in flames and carnage. When Maze looked down at the little girl she was covered in blood and had stopped breathing.

"NO, LUCY WAKE UP, WAKE UP" said Maze.

Maze awoke from this dream in a cold sweat, he was breathing heavily, and he felt a pain in the middle of his back. He just looked at the wall.

"Lucy, I'm so sorry" said Maze to himself.

* * *

><p><strong>On a nearby Island- <strong>

A fat man, who was wearing a nice black suit, was running through the dark streets of a city.

"HAHAHAAHA" echoed a menacing laugh.

The fat man was running even faster now as he made his way through a narrow alley, the whole time looking over his shoulder.

Just when he was about to reach the end of the alley and onto the lighted streets, he was stopped but a dark figure. The last thing the fat man saw was the wide grin of the dark figure before his head was lopped off his shoulders.

The dark figure bent down to rummage through the fat man's pockets, he pulled out a gold pocket watch.

"Hmm, I wonder who my next will be, HAHAHAHAHA" laughed the dark figure.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Well that's all for this chapter folks, and as promised I have it up less than a day after the last one. I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. **

**So as usual, if you enjoyed this chapter leave a comment in the review section, and if you would like to submit one of your OCs for a chance for it to become a part of the story or if you just want to discuss the story with others that have read it, then head over to the forum where you can do just that. ** myforums/Raverns/5899739/****

**That all for today guys and gals, and as always stay awesome!**

* * *

><p><strong>On the next Chapter of One Piece: The Next Story!-<strong>

**Maze's hand is still in pain from his confrontation with Gran, so he and the others are in search for doctor on their next island who could possibly join the crew. Little do they know that on that island a big threat is watching their every move. How will this affect the Typhoon pirates search for a doctor, and what planes does this mysterious person have for them. Check out the next chapter to find out.**

**Chapter 13: The Black Market City-Vertain!**


	13. Chapter13:The Black Market City-Vertain!

**Chapter 13:** **The Black Market City-Vertain!**

* * *

><p><strong>Previously on One Piece: The next Story! - Connie was saying her goodbyes to Yelsin as she prepared to set sail with Maze and Kal. While picking up one last thing on the island, a Marine Captain by the name of Gran, who was there to apprehend the Mecha Pirates, suddenly attacked Maze, the whole time saying he was paying him back for something he had done. After nearly being defeated by Gran, Maze, Kal, and Connie were able to escape and set off to sea. After they were in safe waters Maze finally revealed the name of their crew, The Typhoon Pirates, we now join our heroes as they nurse their fresh wounds and start a new adventure.<strong>

* * *

><p>The Open sea-<p>

The Typhoon pirates were sailing the through East Blue, there wasn't a cloud in the sky, the wind was blowing hard, and the ship was moving at a good pace as our heroes made their way toward the goal of any rookie pirate, the Grand Line. Thanks to the map that Yelsin gave Connie they were able to get quickly get on the best route there. Although, while sailing the Typhoons found themselves in a bit of a predicament.

"Ahhhh, do you have to wrap it so tight" hollered Maze.

Maze's hand had received more damage to it, during his fight with Gran, than he had originally thought he did.

Connie was wrapping his hand in some bandages they had gotten while still on Taloon.

"Oh will you stop complaining, I'm not a doctor so I don't know how to fix your hand, but I do know that if I don't at least tape it up it could get worse" said Connie.

"Well it hurts okay, you try having your bones break and then tell me not to complain, this is why I don't like going over my set muscle limit" said Maze.

Kal walked in to Maze's room just after Maze had finished talking and sat down in a nearby chair.

"Hey, while we're on the subject, how strong can you get?" asked Kal.

Connie then finished wrapping Maze's hand, than she smacked it as hard as she could.

"Ahhhh" yelled Maze in pain.

"You're right, it must really hurt" said Connie with a smile.

Maze had a sour look on his face, partly from Connie had done, but mostly from what Kal had asked, but he also knew that he shouldn't keep secrets from him and Connie.

"Well, if we're using how strong I usually make my arms as a base, then that would be about 25%" said Maze.

"So, then what percent were you at when you gave that last hit to the marine?" asked Connie.

"If I had to give it a number, then I guess, 40% at the most" said Maze.

Both Kal and Connie had looks of shock on their faces.

"You punched that guy clear across to the other side of the island, and now you're telling me that wasn't even half of what you are capable of" said Kal.

"It's not as great as it sounds; there are a couple of side effects that come with along with making myself stronger, for instance, my bones can't always take the recoil, which I told you yesterday" said Maze while holding up his bandaged hand and looking over at Kal.

"So, any other things that happen?" asked Connie.

"Nothing to serious, well, not so long as don't push my muscles over their limits" said Maze.

"What happens if you do?" asked Connie.

"Same thing that happens to everyone else my muscles seize up and then I can't use them, except, when it happens to me, it's about 20x's worse since I make them so big, so I can't even move those muscles for quite awhile" said Maze.

"Okay fine, you going over your limit is a bad thing; I get it, but unfortunately, knowing that doesn't help us fix your hand" said Connie.

"We'll need to find a doctor then, Connie, what's the closest island from where we are?" asked Maze.

Connie put the left over tape into a small pouch she had on her side and pulled out a map from her inside jacket pocket. She then rolled the map out over a small desk that was next to Maze's bed.

"Well, right now we're on a straight course to Louge Town, but if we go west a little, there's a large island that we could definitely find doctor at, but I don't suggest going there" said Connie as she pointed to a large land mass on the map.

"Why not?" asked Maze.

"Well, growing up Yelsin always told me about islands in the blues that I should avoid, and this one was the one he warned me the most about" said Connie.

"What's so bad about that island?" asked Kal.

"It's not so much the island, as it is the people that run it, you see this right here" said Connie.

Connie then pointed to a city on the island that was marked on the map.

"That, is Vertain, and incase you two didn't know, it's know as the black market city, hundreds of people go missing there every year and are never seen again" said Connie.

Everyone stayed quiet for a few seconds before Maze eventually spoke up.

"Well than set course for Vertain then" said Maze.

"Are you sure Maze?" asked Kal.

"Look, without a doctor to fix my hand, there is no way I can use right arm in a fight, so we have to take a chance, and besides I never got my cinnamon rolls when we were on Taloon, and this place has got to have some" said Maze.

"Are you serious right now" asked Connie.

"Note… serious… face" said Maze as he pointed to his serious looking face.

Both Connie and Kal dropped their heads in disbelief.

"Alright, I'll start steering toward Vertain, and pray that we can leave there with all our organs intact" said Connie somewhat annoyed.

"That's the spirit" said Maze.

Maze then looked over at Kal who was still starring at him.

"What's the matter?" asked Maze.

Kal didn't respond to Maze's question at all.

"Kal, are you okay?" asked Maze.

Kal still didn't answer.

Maze got up and ran over to Kal.

"Kal, answer me!" screamed Maze.

Finally Kal made a noise.

"ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ" snored Kal.

Maze just stood there dumbfounded. Here he was worried about his friend and this whole time he was just sleeping with his eyes open. It was then that Maze realized this was the second time that he had found Kal asleep and was unable to wake him up. He reminded himself to ask Maze about that the next chance he got.

* * *

><p>The next day-<p>

After sailing through the night, the Typhoon pirates anchored their ship at the Vertain docks. Maze and Connie both walked off the ship and onto the dock in search of a doctor.

Earlier Connie had tried to wake up Kal, but after awhile Maze told her to give it up and that he would wake up when he was ready, so Kal was left to look after the ship.

After searching the island for the better part of an hour, both Maze and Connie decided to ask someone for directions to a doctor.

"Excuse me, do you know where we can find a doctor?" asked Connie to a passing local.

The local man didn't say a word he just looked at Connie and then immediately walked away.

"Hey, I was asking you a question you jerk!" yelled Connie at the local.

"That was weird, it was like he was afraid to talk to us" said Maze.

"No, he was just a jerk, I'm gonna go find someone else to ask" said Connie.

Connie did ask others we she could find a doctor, but like with the first person, they all just looked at her and then walked away.

"What is wrong with the people here" said Connie in a huff.

"Maybe it's the way you're asking?" said Maze.

Connie gave Maze a cold gaze.

"Oh yeah, let's see you do any better" said Connie.

"Okay" said Maze.

He walked over to a couple of guys standing against a wall, they were all wearing slick, black suits with three buttons on the jacket. The first man was a portly man in a porkpie hat, and the other one was a small man with a bowtie.

"Excuse me, do either of you know where the doctors clinic is?" asked Maze.

"Why do you want to know about a doctor, what the doctors we provide not good enough for ya?" said the small man.

"Yeah, what they don't live up to your high standards or sumthin" said the portly man with a bit of an accent.

"Get outta here ya ingrate" said the small man with the same accent.

Maze walked back to Connie with a confused look on his face.

"What just happened?" asked Maze.

"It's like I said, these people are all jerks, and apparently crazy too" said Connie.

* * *

><p>A Couple hours later-<p>

The duo walked around for a little bit more and were about to head back to the ship when they were unexpectedly stopped by someone.

In front of Connie and Maze was a skinny man who stood around 5'10, he had short straight black hair, and he wore a long sleeve white buttoned down shirt over, black pants with black suspenders, gray gloves, and black shoes, the only part of him that wasn't covered was his face, which had his bangs covering the top of it and slightly over his eyes.

"I'm sorry for bothering you two, but I couldn't help but notice you two aren't from here and seem to be lost" said the skinny man.

"So what if we are?" asked Connie sternly.

"Well then miss, I would like to be of assistance to you in helping you get around the town" said the skinny man.

Both Maze and Connie looked at one another and then turned around to talk to each other about what was going on, for the most part everyone in this town had been avoiding them like the plague, and out of nowhere comes this guy so eager to help.

"I don't think we should trust him, don't forget this place is known for having some really shady people living here, he might be trying to trick us into walking into some kind of trap" said Connie.

Maze nodded in agreement and was about to tell the man they didn't need his help.

"I can even show you where the best bakery in town id if you like, they have amazing cinnamon buns" said the skinny man.

Maze, in response to what the man just said, quickly turned around.

"We would love for you to help us, I'm Maze and this is Connie and we're looking for a doctor, but the bakery comes first" said Maze with a look of pure trust on his face as he shook the man's hand.

Connie immediately slapped her head in pure disbelief of what just happened.

"Hello, Maze and Connie, my name is Franklin, Franklin von Stein, and I know exactly where you can find a doctor" said the skinny man as he bowed to the duo.

Maze followed Franklin with no problem, but Connie couldn't help but think something didn't feel right about him.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Well that's everything for today everyone, I hope you enjoyed it; I know there wasn't much going on in this chapter but trust me that will all change in the next one. I would also like to apoligize if the break lines between different scenes dont show up in this chapter i dont know why they aren't.**

**Now I know it has been awhile since my last release so I promise two more chapters by this Thursday so look out for them.**

**So as usual, if you enjoyed this chapter leave a comment in the review section, and if you would like to submit one of your OCs for a chance for it to become a part of the story or if you just want to discuss the story with others that have read it, then head over to the forum where you can do just that. I am currently looking for more villains so if anyone has any bad guys they want to submit just head over to the forums or send them to me in a PM.**

**** myforums/Raverns/5899739/****

**Like always that's all for toady guys and gals. Don't forget to keep an eye out for the next chapter and as always, stay Awesome.**

* * *

><p><strong>On the next Chapter of One Piece: The Next Story!-<strong>

**With someone showing them around town, Maze and Connie's search for a doctor finally gets some momentum, but why has this mysterious person decided to help them when no one else would, and just what kind of person is the doctor they are heading to. You'll have to read the next chapter to find out.**

**Chapter 14: The Doctor Of Vertain-Miles Penn!**


	14. Chapter14:The Doctor of Vertain!

**Chapter 14: The Doctor of Vertain-Miles Penn!**

* * *

><p><strong>Previously on One Piece: The Next Story! - After finally getting out of Taloon, our heroes discover that Maze had sustained more injuries than first thought. Right after learning a little more about Maze's abilities, the decision was made to head to Vertain, a city known for being a breeding room for some of the more underhanded inhabitants of the Blues, in search of a doctor that can help with Maze's injuries. With some unsuccessful attempts at finding a doctor Maze and Connie ran into a suspiciously friendly man by the name of Franklin von Stein. Our heroes are now following Franklin as he leads them to a doctor, who will hopefully be able to help them.<strong>

* * *

><p><strong>Downtown Vertain-<strong>

Maze and Connie followed Franklin as he took them through a bunch of back alleys and winding streets.

"Hey, are you sure you know where to find a doctor?" asked Connie to Franklin in a skeptical voice.

"Do not fret my dear, we are almost there" said Franklin.

"Yeah Connie, don't be so cynical, nobody who loves cinnamon rolls can be a bad guy" said Maze confidently.

Despite Maze's confidence in Franklin, Connie couldn't help but feel as though he was hiding something, and that they were heading into a an ambush.

Soon the pirates arrived in front of a green, brick building. With the exception of a metal door, nothing caught your attention about, not to mention absolutely no sign of any kind that would make you think this was a doctor's clinic.

"Well here we are the doctor is right through that door, now if you would excuse me I must be going" said Franklin as he started walking away.

"Hold on, aren't you coming in to introduce us to the doctor or something?" said Connie.

"And what about the Cinnamon Rolls!" said Maze a little heartbroken.

"I do apologize for my sudden departure, but unfortunately I am late for a prior engagement, I do hope we meet again my new friends" said Franklin with a small smile on his face.

Franklin walked away and disappeared into the bustling city streets.

Maze and Connie starred at the metal door that would allegedly lead them to what they have been looking for.

"Well, I guess we should go inside" said Maze as he reached for the door handle.

Connie stopped him.

"You can't be serious, this is obviously some kind of trap" said Connie.

"What do you mean?" asked Maze.

"Maze, think about it, we spend hours looking for someone to help us find a doctor and after no one does, this Franklin guy shows up and he just helps us for no reason, and then when he finally takes us to where we want to go, he suddenly has to leave out of nowhere. You don't find that even the slightest bit suspicious" said Connie.

Maze gave some serious thought about what Connie was saying.

"Nope" said Maze quickly.

Maze opened the metal door.

"Excuse me were looking for a doctor" said Maze.

As soon as Maze walked into the green building a sharp objects flew right at him and imbedded itself into the wall next to Maze. Before Maze could react to what just happened a flurry of more sharp objects were sent at him. He quickly jumped to his left and behind a couple of beds for cover.

Connie, in response to what was happening in the building was taking cover against the outside wall. She looked through the open door to find who was attacking them, but every time she stuck her head into the building one of the attackers' knives was thrown at her, but as she was about to try in get into the building, she notice the knives that were thrown at her weren't knives at all, they were scalpels.

Maze was still hiding behind the bed when he noticed a shadow moving along the wall in front of him. Maze knew this meant that the attacker was on the other side of the bed; he used this information to his advantage. He buffed his left arm and gripped the underside of the bed and tossed it behind him. While the bed was flipping in midair he turned and threw a left jab at it, splitting it in half, right after Maze's fist made contact with the attacker and they were sent crashing into the back wall.

After Maze made sure their assailant was down for the count he called for Connie to come in.

As soon as Connie entered the building both she and Maze were finally able to get a good look at who was attacking them.

Lying on the ground unconscious was a man around 5'7 in his late thirties with short dark red hair and a pale complexion. He was wearing a white lab coat over a black shirt with a design of a yellow sun on it and orange pants.

Connie quickly pulled out a piece of twine from her bag and placed it around the unconscious man then proceeded to turn the twine into a ring of rock candy to keep him from being able to attack them again.

After they took care of that our heroes were able to finally get a good look around the room they were in. There was a bunch of beds around the room along with a medical table and equipment. In the back there was a room that was filled with pills and other medicines. The duo then realized what they had just done.

"Connie" said Maze.

"Yeah Maze" said Connie.

"I think we just knocked out the doctor we were looking for" said Maze.

"I know Maze" said Connie.

* * *

><p><strong>One hour later-<strong>

After a little while the red haired man woke up to find himself bound by a giant piece of candy. He struggled to get free but the ring of candy just wouldn't give way. It was then that he noticed Maze and Connie sitting down in a couple of chairs they found in the room.

"What are you waiting for kill me, that's what you came here for right" said the doctor with a gruff voice.

"Hold on, we weren't the ones throwing scalpels at you for no reason" said Connie.

"Who are you trying to fool here, a couple of people who I have never seen before just happen to know a doctor was here, I know boss Falcone sent you to stop me from treating the people of the city" said the doctor.

"Wait, obviously there has been some kind of misunderstanding, we don't work for this Falcone guy or whoever, we're just here to get my hand fixed" said Maze while showing his bandaged hand to the doctor.

The doctor had a look of deep thought on his face.

"Okay, let's say I believe you, how exactly did you know where to find me?" asked the doctor.

"A guy named Franklin showed us where to find you" said Maze.

The doctor now had a look of confusion on his face.

"Who's Franklin?" said the doctor.

Just then a pair of men busted through the metal door. It was the small man and portly man in the black suits from earlier.

"What I tell ya Georgie, didn't I tell you if we followed em we would find somethin good" said the small man with the bowtie.

"When you're right you're right Marco" said the portly man in the porkpie hat.

They were both carrying a tommy gun.

"Now, why don't you two get out of here so me and my associate can have… conversation with the doctor here" said Marco to Maze and Connie.

Both and Maze got between the doctor and the two men.

"I think it's you two that need to leave" said Maze.

"Oh really" said Marco.

"Really" said Connie.

"Really" said Marco with some agitation in his voice.

"Really" said Maze and Connie in unison.

"Light em up Georgie" said Marco.

The two men open fired on our heroes with their guns.

Luckily Connie had pulled out a sheet of paper from her bag and turned into a wall of licorice, shielding them from the onslaught of bullets.

"You, candy girl get this ring off of me now" said the doctor.

"Okay" said Connie.

Connie did as the doctor said and turned the candy ring back into twine.

The doctor then reached into his lab coat and pulled out a pair of scalpels.

"Now when I tell you to, bring down this wall got it" said the doctor.

Connie nodded in agreement.

Just then Marco and Georgie had just run out of ammo and were in the middle of loading more.

"Now!" said the doctor.

Just like that Connie turned the wall back into a sheet of paper and the doctor threw the scalpels at the two gunmen, nailing them both between the eyes. Marco and Georgie dropped to the floor.

Maze, Connie, and the doctor looked over the now dead attackers.

"Crap, now I gotta leave" said the doctor.

"What?" said Connie?

"You two might not work for Falcone, but these two did, and I can't run the risk that they told someone else that I'm here, so I have to move over to one of my backup clinics, and since you two lead them here, you're going to help me move all my stuff there" said the doctor as he pulled out a bunch of boxes.

"Only if you promise to fix his hand" said Connie pointing at Maze.

"Fine whatever, now start filling these boxes" said the doctor.

"Well then, I'm Maze and this is Connie, nice to finally meet you doc" said Maze.

"Don't call me doc the names Miles, Dr. Miles Penn" said the doctor.

* * *

><p><strong>In a far off Marine base-<strong>

Captain Gran was in the office of Vice Admiral Chum and he had a look of immense anger on his face.

"Vice Admiral Chum sir, you need to understand that this pirate is far too dangerous to leave him alone, please allow me to go after him" said Gran.

"Gran we do not have the man power to waste it on a hunt for so no name pirate, now drop this thing and get back to your duties" said Chum.

Gran walked out of Chum's office and into a small hallway where Lieutenant Kasuga was waiting for him.

Kasuga gave a look to Gran.

"No the Vice Admiral isn't letting me go after him" said Gran.

Kasuga gave him the same look as before.

"I'll just have to take another route, but I swear I'm going to kill Maze, one way or another" said Gran.

* * *

><p><strong>Back in Chum's office-<strong>

"Is he going to cause problems Chum?" said a man that had walked through a hidden door behind a large portrait of a marine fleet.

The man was in his mid forties, 6'4 feet tall, and he had black, closely cropped hair. He wore a black pinstripe suit, black tie, and black dress shoes underneath a marine Vice Admiral coat. He was also carrying a guitar case in his right hand.

"Don't worry about him Calais, he won't cause any problems, and even if he did it's not like he couldn't be dealt with" said Chum with a smile.

"That's why I keep you around Chum, you're not afraid to get your hands dirty if you have to" said Calais as he sat down in a nearby chair.

"So what brings you here Calais, I thought we weren't meeting up until next week" said Chum.

"Change of plans, they just found another one of Falcone's underlings with his head chopped off, I need you to get me some info on what's going on down there immediately, got it" said Calais.

"Yeah I got it, I have a few informants still in Vertain, I'll let you know as soon as hear anything" said Chum.

"Good, we can't have people killing my underlings' underlings, it's bad for business" said Calais.

On this note Calais left Chum's office and back through the secret passage way he came through.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Well that's all for today folks, I hope you enjoyed it. **

**I would like to Thank "The Imposter" for submitting Vice Admiral Calais who will become a very important character in the story.**

**As usual if you liked this chapter don't forget to leave a review and if you really liked it visit the forum where you can chat about the story with others or even submit your own OCS to make an appearance.** myforums/Raverns/5899739/****

**So until next time guys and gals, stay Awesome.**

* * *

><p><strong>In the next chapter of One Piece: The Next Story- After finally finding a doctor Maze can finally get his hand fixed, but little do they know, with the death of Marco and Georgie, they just entered into a war with very dangerous people. How will our heroes deal with this new threat check out the next chapter to find out!<strong>

**Chapter 15: The Falcone Family is on the Rampage!**


	15. Chapter 15:The Falcone Family!

**Chapter 15: The Falcone Family is on the Rampage!**

* * *

><p><strong>Previously on One Piece: The Next Story! – After being lead to the doctors' clinic by their new acquaintance Franklin, Connie and Maze, were immediately attacked by a mystery assailant who turned out to be the doctor they had come to see. After clearing up the misunderstanding with Dr. Miles Penn they were attacked for a second time, this time by a pair of gun wielding men they had met earlier. Thanks to some quick thinking on Connie's part and some amazing aim by Miles they were able to avoid any more injuries. Now Maze and Connie are helping Miles move to his secondary location as to avoid any more incidents with whoever the two attackers worked for. A while away on a Marine base, dark dealings were being hashed out between two high ranking officials. What do these marines and their plans have to do with our heroes, and just what does this mean for their new doctor friend.<strong>

* * *

><p><strong>Uptown Vertain-<strong>

In a large and lavish mansion surrounded by a large gate and patrolled by dozens of men in black suits, housed an old man in his late fifties, he was somewhat short and gad a thin black mustache, he wore a sharp black suit, over a ruffled shirt.

The old man sat down in front of a large wooden desk inside of a red office. He kept playing with a set of bobbles he had positioned around the desk.

Two men, who were also in black suits, stood in front of the desk, they were holding up a large safe.

"Where do you want this boss?" asked one of the men carrying the safe.

"Place it in the corner over there" said the old man in a nasally voice.

The two men carried the safe over to the left corner of the room and one that was done they stepped back in front of the old man.

"Okay so what did you two want" said the old man.

"Well boss, we just got word from Marco and Georgie that they might a found where that doctors you've looking for has been hiding" said one of the two men.

"Why the hell didn't you tell me that sooner, and what the hell are you still doing here, go make sure they kill that bastard "said the boss.

"Well boss you asked us to move that safe for ya so…" said one of the men.

The black suited man's sentence was cut short by the bullet hole that appeared in the middle of his forehead.

The boss was now sitting at his desk with a look of annoyance on his face and a smoking pistol in his hand. He now looked over at the still living black suited man.

"Now are you going to give me excuses, or are you going to do what I told you" said the boss with a cold voice.

"Yes sir boss" said the man as he ran out of the office.

"You know Falcone, we have enough trouble with some crazy doctor going around killing are guys, without you doing the same" said a beautiful woman lying on a couch against the left wall and smoking a cigarette.

The woman looked to be in her late twenties, stood at 5'9, and she had brown hair cut into a bob. She was wearing an open brown trench coat, a frock made from belts under the trench coat, reaching shortly above the knees, brown dress shoes, and a sword sheath tied to the frock.

"Instead of questioning my methods Mae, why don't you go do your job and go kill that bastard of a doctor" said Falcone.

"Relax, our own psychopath is already on the hunt, and you know how he gets when he's in a group" said Mae.

* * *

><p><strong>On the other side of Vertain-<strong>

Maze and Connie had just finished helping Dr. Miles move most of his supplies over to his backup building, which was an old warehouse on the other side of the city. They were able to get around unnoticed by Falcone's men by going through an old system of tunnels that spread across the tunnels.

As Maze placed the last box onto the floor he felt a shooting pain in his hand.

"Ahhhh" said Maze in pain.

Miles ran over to check on Maze's pain. He then guided him to an empty chair and had him take a seat. He then removed the bandages from Maze's hands to get a better look at it.

"Where does it hurt?" asked Miles as he touched parts of the hand.

Miles continued to probe that hand until he touched the very center of Maze's hand.

"Ah, right there, I think the bones are broken" said Maze.

"Ha-ha" laughed Miles.

"What's so funny?" asked Maze.

"Your bones aren't broken, you just dislocated your scaphoid and capitate bones, I can fix that in a second" said Miles.

"I knew you were just being a big baby" said Connie mockingly.

"Connie come over here and hold his arm down for me" said Miles.

Connie did as Miles asked and held down Maze's arm as hard as she could.

"Now this shouldn't hurt a bit" said Miles.

"Got it doc" said Maze.

Miles made a quick pulling motion on Maze's hand.

"AHHHHHHHHH! What the hell doc I thought you said it wouldn't hurt too much" screamed Maze in pain.

"And I thought I told you not to call me doc" said Miles.

Maze was about to tell Miles off when he realized he didn't feel any more pain in his hand.

"Wow, my hand doesn't hurt any more, thanks do…. Miles" said Maze.

"You're welcome, now come on we have to deal with one more thing" said Miles.

"What?" asked Maze?

"We still have to get rid of those guy's bodies, duh, although to be honest we probably should have done that first" said Connie.

"No time to for talking let's get going" said Miles as he made his way to the tunnels entrance.

**Back at the first clinic-**

After making their way back through the tunnels the trio found themselves back in Miles' clinic but something wasn't right. The bodies of Marco and Georgie were gone.

"Where did the bodies go!" yelled Miles.

"They couldn't have just disappeared" said Connie.

"Are we sure they were actually dead?" asked Maze.

"I checked their vitals myself, their pulses and heartbeats were gone, there is no way they could have still been alive" said Miles confidently.

"Then where could they be?" asked Connie.

* * *

><p><strong>In the town square-<strong>

Many of Vertain's citizens were standing around a large flag pole smacked dab in the middle of the square. Hanging from the pole, were the dead bodies of Marco and Georgie, with their necks cut wide open for all to see.

Many of Falcone's men watched as two of their own were hung with disrespect, but what caught their eyes the most was what was written on Marco and Georgie's chest.

"This is a declaration of war by the Typhoon Pirates" read one of Falcone's men.

"Somebody better go and tell the boss" said another one of the men.

One of the men pulled out a baby den-den mushi.

* * *

><p><strong>Back at Falcone's office-<strong>

A baby den-den mushi that was on Falcone's wrist started ringing.

"What is it?" said Falcone into the den-den mushi.

"Boss, we just found a couple of our men hanging dead atop the flag pole in the town square" said one of the men quickly, through the den-den mushi.

"What?!" yelled Falcone.

"That's not the worst of it boss, it was apparently done by a bunch of people calling themselves the Typhoon pirates, there was a message left on the bodies about how they're going to war wit us" said another one of the men with a similar accent as Marco.

Falcone stayed quiet for a while as he became enraged by the blatant disrespect he was getting from a bunch of nothing pirates.

"Listen, I want you to gather everyone family member outside of the house and hunt down these, Typhoon Pirates, I don't want any of them leaving this island alive do you understand me" said Falcone angrily.

"Got it boss" said all of the men together.

* * *

><p><strong>Back at Miles' clinic-<strong>

"This isn't good, if any of Falcone's men found the bodies after we left, they're gonna be coming after me" said Miles.

"I've been meaning to ask you about that, why are you hiding from these guys in the first place?" asked Maze.

Miles sat down on the floor and pulled out a silver flask from his lab coat.

"This town is run by a crime syndicate called the Falcone family. They have their hands in just about every business on the island including the medical practices, with the exception of mine, they used to just over look me since they were still making money from all the other doctors, but a few months ago, one of Falcone's men was found with his head cut off, me and the man that was killed had an argument the night before, and since the cut looked like it was done by someone with medical experience, they just assumed it was me. I've been hiding ever since" said Miles.

"Wait if your life was in that much danger, why not leave the island instead of staying and risking being found?" asked Connie.

"Because, my patients still need me and a lot of them can't afford to go to the clinics run by the Falcone's" said Miles.

"Why don't the town's people just get rid of them, they don't seem to strong, and if you all worked together you could take of them easily" said Maze.

"We tried, but they have these four guardians and they are to powerful for us to handle" said Miles.

Connie walked over to Maze and pulled him over to an empty corner.

"Maze, we have to help these people, if we don't this town could end up just like my village" said Connie.

Maze nodded his head in agreement.

"Miles don't worry about those Falcone guys anymore, because we're going to get rid of them for you" said Maze.

* * *

><p><strong>Boss Falcone's office -<strong>

Falcone knocked over all of his bobbles onto the ground in and other parts of his office in a burst of anger.

Shortly after Mae walked into the office, she was carrying a bottle of rum with her.

"What's all the commotion about?" asked Mae.

"Mae, good timing, I want you to grab the rest of the family guardians and help the men look for and kill, some punks calling themselves the Typhoon Pirates" said Falcone.

Mae formed a small smile over her face.

"No problem, but what about Duke do you want me to get him to or leave him to hunt the guy who's been decapitating our guys?" asked Mae.

"Yeah, call him in to, with any luck these pirates are the same ones we have been looking for" said Falcone still steaming from the prior information.

Mae pulled out a purple den-den mushi from her trench coat.

"Hey, Castor, Geon, Duke, stop whatever it is your doing and start looking for a group of people called the Typhoon pirates, and once you find them, get rid of them, bosses orders" said Mae.

* * *

><p><strong>Throughout the city-<strong>

The lower level members of the Falcone Family were storming through the streets of Vertain.

* * *

><p><strong>The docks-<strong>

A pale grey, athletic looking, angler fish fishman that stood at 5'8 and wore a blue sleeveless shirt and baggy grey pants emerged from the sea in front of the down town docks and was heading toward the center of town.

"This is Castor, I will be there shortly" said the fishman through a den-den mushi.

* * *

><p><strong>A tavern on the west side of town-<strong>

A huge man, who stood at 14'9, with brown hair in a crew cut, and wearing a chainmail shirt and black jeans got up from the booth he was sitting at and walked through a giant hole in the front of the tavern. On his back was a huge and thick iron triangular shield.

"It's Geon, and I'm coming," said the huge man in to his den-den mushi.

* * *

><p><strong>In the underground tunnels-<strong>

A skypiean man with neatly combed blonde hair, he stood at 6'6 and was wearing a white zipped up fur coat, khakis, and no shoes walked through the abandoned tunnels of the city. A pair of white wings could be seen sticking out of the back of the coat.

"Hey, Duke calling in, and I bet I find them first, hahahahahahhah!" said the blond skypiean as he laughed hysterically.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Here we go everyone a huge battle between our heroes and the Falcone Family is about to begin, so looking forward to writing that. **

**I would also like to thank "The Imposter" for the Characters Mae and Duke; I seriously can't wait to right these fights.**

**So as usual if you liked this chapter leave a review and if you really liked this chapter then head over to the forum where you can discuss the story and submit any OCs you may want to appear in the story.**

* * *

><p><strong>Now until next time guys and gals look out for the next chapter, stay awesome everyone.<strong>

**In the next chapter of One Piece: The Next Story- Our heroes are not aware that they are being hunted by the Falcone family, but they are ready to fight them nonetheless, but who was it that staged the bodies and blamed the Typhoon Pirates, and for what reason? You will find out none of that in the next chapter but check it out anyway!**

**Chapter 16: The Hunt Begins! **


	16. Chapter 16: The Hunt Begins!

**Chapter 16: The Hunt Begins!**

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><p><strong>Previously on One Piece: The Next Story- After hearing about the Falcone family and the hold they have over the city and its people, the Typhoon pirates have decided to help get rid of this criminal organization so as to bring peace back to Vertain. But while our heroes believe they have the element of surprise on their side, the Falcone family is combing the city in search for them in order to pay them back for the declaration of war they believe the Typhoon pirates put up. Now the Falcone family and its Guardians are on the hunt!<strong>

* * *

><p><strong>At the Clinic-<strong>

Maze, Connie, and Miles were sitting around the room trying to come up with a plan in order to take down the Falcone Family.

"Okay so these guardian guys are the only actual threat right?" asked Connie to Miles.

"Yes, each one of them is more than capable of taking on a whole group without breaking a sweat" said Miles.

"So all we have to do is take care of them and the locals should be able to take back the island right?" said Maze.

"Ideally yes, it should be possible" said Miles.

"Alright then, let's go Connie" said Maze as he got up from his chair.

"Wait, you want to go now" said Connie.

"Yeah, why not?" said Maze.

"Well for starters we have no idea what these guardians look like and second it would be two against four don't you think we should at least go and get Kal to better our chances" said Connie.

"That's if Kal is awake and if he's not then we won't be able to wake him up anyway, and besides these guys don't know we're coming for them so we have the advantage" said Maze.

"We still don't know who they are or where to find them, so maybe we should get some more information first okay" said Connie with a snarky attitude.

"Alright fine, hey Miles what are these family guardians anyway?" asked Maze.

"Well first there's Mae Chase as a deceptive and manipulative a women you will ever find, she's the only female member of the Falcone Family but don't let that fool you she is a very deadly swordswomen. Then there is Castor a fishman, he is a bit more sensible then the rest of them he's supposedly a fishman karate master, I have heard that he may be the leader of the guardians but you could never tell by the way they interact with each other. Next is Geon a Wotan, a nearly 15' brute of a man that uses a giant iron shield that is as thick as a wall, he's definitely not the smartest of the four but that doesn't make him any less dangerous. Finally there's Duke Mason a sadistic son of a bitch that has some kind of Devil Fruit but I have no idea what kind, he's a skypiean that supposedly was kicked off of his sky island and then as he made his way through the blues as a pirate he killed every crew he was a part of. Every last one of those people are dangerous you might not be able to defeat even one of them let alone all four" said Miles.

Both Connie and Maze looked at each other.

"Don't worry about it we're stronger then we look" said Maze.

"Yeah, and besides it's like Maze said they don't know were coming so just leave it to us" said Connie confidently.

"So for right now Miles, you should stay here just in case, since they are looking for you, you would be putting yourself in their crosshairs" said Maze.

Connie and Maze exited the clinic as they went to search for the guardians. After they left Miles decided he should head back to his backup clinic where it was a whole lot safer.

As Miles made his way to the door to the tunnel he was shocked to see it opening by itself. Miles quickly pulled out a few of his scalpels. Unfortunately he was unable to defend himself before a shrouded figure knocked him out. The last thing he saw before losing consciousness was a his attackers large grin as he was carried out of the clinic.

* * *

><p><strong>In the Falcone Mansion-<strong>

Mae was organizing the men and sending them out to places where pirates were likely to hideout.

"You, Castor will be checking the north docks, so I want you to take a few dozen men and check out the south docks, you take some men and search all of the taverns in town Geon will have already gone through some of them when you get there. And the check the rest of the town but make sure you just stay out of Dukes way" said Mae to the large group of men in front of her.

A little while later Mae got a call on her den-den mushi.

"Ms. Chase this is the south dock search team we believe we have found the Typhoon Pirates ship, and are about to board it" said the voice coming out of the den-den mushi.

"Good make sure not to leave a single person on that ship alive or else you lot will be tasting the edge of my sword" said Mae.

"Yes sir, Ms. Chase" said the dock team in unison.

* * *

><p><strong>Back on the ship-<strong>

Kal had just woken up from his deep sleep and was getting up from the chair he was sleeping on. He was walking to the door of the room when he heard a bunch of people talking above him; Kal knew none of the people were Maze or Connie so he went to check it out. When he got up to the deck he was surprised by the sight of over three dozen very angry men in black suits that were carrying a large assortment of weapons.

"Can I help you guys with something?" asked Kal cautiously.

All of the suited men gave angry stares at Kal until one of them finally spoke up.

"Are you a member of the Typhoon pirates?" asked one of the men.

"Why do you want to know?" asked Kal.

"We just want to make sure we kill the right people!" said the man as he and many of the others all charged at Kal.

Kal reacted quickly and grabbed his sword.

"Crescent Cut" yelled Kal as he cut down the first wave of attackers.

One of the men got to Kal's side and swung a mace down at him. Kal was able to get out of the way of the attack in time but before he knew it a pair of men wielding machetes was coming at him from above. Kal quickly used his sheath to block the attack; he then back steeped to the door leading to the rooms. Many of the Falcone family were now charging straight at him with rage still in their eyes, but Kal was not just going to give up the fight.

"Flash Slash" said Kal as he sped through to the center of the horde, taking down anyone in his path.

Kal was now surrounded on all sides by the Falcone family. They all believed that they had won the battle and decided to charge at him all at once.

Kal could see the circle of enemies enclosing on him, and that was exactly what he wanted.

"Seventh stance" said Kal as he twisted his body and gripped his sword tightly.

"Slicing Storm!" yelled Kal as he spun his body and drew his sword at the exact same time, the force of the spin and speed of the draw caused Kal to spin at an incredible speed as he spun through the group of attackers, cutting down anyone that was foolish enough to get close to him.

By the time Kal stopped spinning all but one of the men had been taken down.

Kal walked up to the sole surviving attacker who was trembling in the corner of the ship.

"Okay, I'm only going to ask this once, why did you guys attack me?" said Kal.

After a long explanation from the last of the attackers Kal had a good understanding of what had been going on while he's been asleep. As soon as he took care of the trembling man and disposed of the rest of his attackers Kal ran off of the ship in order to find Maze and Connie.

"I'm asleep for one day and they get themselves in a war with a mob family, ugh" said Kal somewhat annoyed.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: well there is chapter 16 everyone I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.**

**So as usual if you liked this chapter leave a review and if you really liked this chapter then head over to the forum where you can discuss the story and submit any OCs you may want to appear in the story.**

**** myforums/Raverns/5899739/****

**So until next time guys and gals, look out for the next chapter and stay awesome!**

* * *

><p><strong>In the next chapter of One Piece: The Next Story- With the ship being attacked and the Falcone's closing in on our heroes it is only a matter of time until the Typhoon Pirates and the Falcone Guardians square off against each other, and who was it that abducted Miles and what role will it play in the upcoming battle. Check out the next chapter to find out. <strong>


	17. Chapter17:TheTyphoons andFalcones Clash!

**Chapter 17: The Typhoons and Falcone's Clash!**

* * *

><p><strong>Previously on One Piece: The Next Story!- Our heroes get some information on the Falcone Guardians from Miles and feel they are ready to take them on, but as soon as they leave Miles he is taken by a mysterious figure for some unknown reason. While back at the ship Kal was greeted by a bunch of Boss Falcone's men, after dealing with them Kal learns about the trouble that Maze and Connie have gotten into. He is now on his way to warn and help his friends before it is too late.<strong>

* * *

><p><strong>The south side of town- <strong>

A little while after leaving Miles, Maze and Connie were combing the now practically empty streets of Vertain; they were unaware that the streets were clear of people because of the Falcone family who were roaming the city for the Typhoon Pirates.

"Hey Maze, do you get a bad feeling about how "quiet" it is right now?" said Connie.

"Nope" said Maze.

Connie looked over at Maze with a look of annoyance.

"It's just sunny days and blue waters in your head most of the time isn't it" said Connie.

"I don't know what that means" said Maze.

"Never mind" said Connie.

"Hey look" said Maze pointing down the road.

At the other end of the road a single person was walking toward them.

After a long period of not seeing another person on the streets Connie was worried; she grabbed for her knives and was getting ready in case this person was an enemy. Maze noticed what Connie was doing and was starting to think the same thing so he readied himself for a fight. Finally the lone person was close enough to see his face. Upon seeing this person's face Maze relaxed himself, Connie on the other hand did not.

"Hello my friends how are you" said Franklin.

"Hey Franklin, are you finally gonna show us where that bakery is?" said Maze.

"I'm afraid at moment that would be impossible, it would seem that the bakery, along with every other establishment I have walked past has been closed and deserted" said Franklin.

During the conversation Connie wasn't sure whether she should be worried about the news that the town had been evacuated or embarrassed that while she and Maze were trying to find and defeat a criminal organization, Maze was still trying to get some damn backed goods.

"Do you know why the town's people are hiding?" asked Connie to Franklin.

"Well from what I have heard apparently a group of pirates have declared war on the Falcone family, and now the Falcone's are searching the whole island for them" said Franklin.

"Just out of curiosity do you know the name of the pirate crew they are looking for?" asked Connie.

"I believe it was the Typhoon Pirates" said Franklin.

"What, why?!" said Maze and Connie in unison.

"I believe it's because they killed two of the Falcone's and then hung their bodies in the center of the town with a declaration of war written on their bodies" said Franklin.

"We never did that!" said Maze.

It was at this moment that Maze realized what he had just admitted.

"I mean we would never do that, if we were pirates" said Maze.

"Idiot" said Connie while putting her hand to her face.

"I take it you two are members of the Typhoon pirates, correct" said Franklin.

"I'm the captain actually" said Maze proudly.

"Do you two think you should be out on the streets right now, the entirety of the Falcone Family is after you, including its Guardians" said Franklin.

"We can't, we promised Miles we would help him and this island by getting rid of these guys" said Maze.

"Oh speaking of the good doctor, I heard word that the Falcone had found a tunnel that he was using to get around the city, but…"

"What, they know about the tunnels, Connie we have to go back to make sure Miles is okay" said Maze as he started running towards the clinic.

"Thanks for the info" said Connie as she ran after Maze.

"But I …." said Franklin as they ran out of earshot.

* * *

><p><strong>On the streets of Vertain-<strong>

Maze and Connie ran as fast as they could back to Miles', the whole time hoping nothing bad had happened to him.

As they ran through the streets they heard a familiar voice calling to them from behind. When they looked back they saw Kal running towards them.

"Do you two have any idea how long I have been looking for you" said Kal.

"We don't have time for this Kal, we have to help Miles" said Maze as he continued running.

"Who's Miles?" asked Kal.

"Come on I'll explain on the way" said Connie as she and Kal ran to catch up to Maze.

* * *

><p><strong>Back at Miles' clinic-<strong>

When our heroes stepped foot into the clinic all they saw was the destruction and disarray of what was once Miles' office. The furniture that was left there had been destroyed, the walls had huge slash marks all over them, but what was the most alarming were the vast quantities of blood that covered the walls and floor of the clinic.

"I'm guessing it wasn't like this when you guys were here last" said Kal.

"Miles are you here" said Maze.

"Maze I doubt he's here" said Connie.

"First we found out that they have been searching for us the whole time we have been looking for them , then the ship is attacked, and now Miles is missing, we never should have left him" said Maze in a depressed tone as he sat down against a nearby wall.

"Maze, we can't let this stop us, the people of this town are still controlled by the Falcone, we may not be able to change the past, but we can still take down the guys that did this" said Connie.

"She's right, if these guys want to fight then let's give them a fight that won't ever forget" said Kal.

Maze got up from the floor and brushed himself off; he had a determined look in his eyes as if he was ready for anything.

"You're right, let's stop searching around the city and hit them where they live" said Maze with confidence.

"But we don't know where that is" said Connie.

"I do" said Kal with a cocky smile.

Maze and Connie looked over at Kal with a puzzled look.

* * *

><p><strong>Downtown Vertain-<strong>

After Kal told Connie and Maze all of the information he got from one of the Falcone, they headed for the Falcone mansion to finally bring the fight right to them.

The Typhoon pirates stood outside of the Falcone mansion which stood at the bottom of two streets that made a v shape.

Maze just starred at the large building standing in front of him, he then increased the strength of his diaphragm muscle and yelled loud enough so the entire island could hear him.

"HEY FALCONE, GET YOUASS OUT HERE!" yelled Maze.

The loudness of Maze's voice was enough to shatter the windows of the mansion and give Kal and Connie raging headaches.

"Oww, how about a warning before you do something like that man" said Kal.

"Yeah you jerk" said Connie as she slapped the back of Maze's head.

"My bad" said Maze.

A few moments later a large group of 100 Falcone henchmen poured out of the mansion, behind them was Boss Falcone. He was holding a walking cane and smoking on a cigar.

"So you three are the Typhoon Pirates huh, gotta admit I'm surprised you're just a bunch of kids, so before I have my men tear you limb from limb why did you decide to go to war with me, and why in such a "public" way" said Falcone with distain in his voice.

"We're here to make you leave this island and give the town's people back their freedom, and about the declaration we had nothing to do with that" said Maze loudly.

"You know, I might have believed that if not for that if not for the fact that I'm not a COMPLETE IDIOT!" shouted Falcone in a rage.

"I figured he wouldn't believe us about that" said Connie calmly.

"Well it's not like we're here not to fight anyway" said Kal.

"True, so let's get rid of these guys already" said Maze as he buffed his arms.

Connie pulled out her knives and covered them in a hard lollipop coating with serrated edges and made them longer.

Kal readied himself to pull his sword at a moment's notice.

"RIP THEM A PART!" yelled Falcone.

The Falcone henchmen all charged at the heroes, apparently none of them had any guns.

Maze made the first move when he jumped right at the incoming horde. He swung his huge arm taking out ten of them instantly. A few of them however were able to get behind Maze and were about to plunge their knives into his back, but before they could Connie their attack blocked with her elongated knife and made small staffs shot out of it that hit the attackers in the center of the heads and knocked them out. While Connie and Maze were distracted a pair of attackers attempted to cut them down, but Kal drew his sword in a flash and cut them down instead. As Maze rushed and blasted his way through the mass of enemies, Connie taking them out with her candy combat, and Kal cutting them down faster than they could react, the Typhoons were able to take down the Falcone's in no time.

"Hmm that was easier than I thought it would be" said Connie still holding her lollipop blades in her hands.

"Yeah I thought these guys would put up a better fight" said Kal as he sheathed his swords.

"Now all that's left is the boss" said Maze as his arms went back to normal.

Boss Falcone started to back step into the mansion somewhat in shock by the sight of over a hundred of his men being taken down by three kids.

"What's the matter boss, scared by a few kids that took down a bunch of weaklings" said Mae as she walked out of the mansion.

"Mae, where have you been" said Boss.

"Relax Falcone; I was just waiting for the rest of the guests to show up" said Mae.

"Sorry for being late boss, kept getting lost" said Geon in a deep monotone voice.

"I must apologize also, Boss Falcone, I decided to take a leisurely walk through the town, but I see I am not the last to arrive, where is Duke?" asked Castor.

"He's running late, but he'll be here soon" said Mae.

Maze, Connie, and Kal, watched as a woton and a fishman walked down the two intersecting streets. With Mae walking up from the mansion, not only were three of the four Guardians there, the Typhoons were surrounded at all three sides. The Typhoons all stood back to back creating a triangular formation with each of them facing one of the guardians' directions.

"So these guys are the Family Guardians huh, they don't look so tough" said Connie.

"And one of their guys aren't here yet" said Maze.

"So if we can take out at least one of them" said Kal.

"Then we can win with no problem" said Connie with a smile.

"Then we know what we have to do" said Maze.

"Take em down!" said all three in unison as they each charged at one of the guardians.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: here we go everyone the battles are about to begin and it's gonna get violent. Hope you guys are ready for it. **

**And here's a little bonus for one lucky person, first to figure out which typhoon is fighting which Guardian, will receive something special just leave your guesses in the review section.**

**So as usual if you liked this chapter leave a review and if you really liked this chapter then head over to the forum where you can discuss the story and submit any OCs you may want to appear in the story. **

**** myforums/Raverns/5899739/****

**So until next time guys and gals, look out for the next chapter and stay awesome!**

* * *

><p><strong>In the next chapter of One Piece: The Next Story- With one of the Guardians absent our heroes have a chance to get a great advantage, but the whereabouts and condition of Miles is still unknown but that will be revealed in the next chapter so look out for it.<strong>

**Chapter 18: The Real Fight Begins- ? vs ?**


	18. Chapter 18: The Real Fight Begins!

**Chapter 18: The Real Fight Begins- Connie vs. Mae!**

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><p><strong>After discovering the news of the Falcone's searching for them from Franklin, Maze and Connie rushed back to check on Miles. On the way there they ran into Kal who told them about the attempted attack of the ship. Upon reaching Miles' clinic they were shocked to find that it had been partially destroyed and there was blood covering most of the room. Maze felt as though he had failed his friend, but after a pep talk from Kal and Connie, he rallied and they made their way to the Falcone's compound, where after taking out the henchmen, they found themselves face to face with the Falcone Guardians. Now the true battle between the Typhoon Pirates and the Falcone Family is about to begin.<strong>

* * *

><p><strong>In front of the Falcone compound-<strong>

Connie charged at Mae with her candy blades in her hands. She swung her blades at Mae as soon as she was close enough, but Mae back stepped out of the way of the attack as if it was nothing. She then pulled out her own weapon. Her hands gripped the katana style hilt of her sword but the blade of her sword was not that of a katana, it was a double edged blade with a triangular point at the end of it.

Mae swung her sword horizontally at Connie, Connie quickly blocked the attack with her candy blades, but the attack was heavier then she thought it would be and broke right through the hardened candy coating of her knives shattering them into pieces. The force of the attack was enough to throw Connie back a few feet, but luckily she was able to keep her balance.

"You know I must admit, it has been a while since I have faced a Devil Fruit user, I almost forgot how invigorating it could be, but if I'm being honest I would have preferred to have fought one of your friends, I do enjoy playing around with the opposite sex, hmm maybe when this is all over if either of those two are still alive I can sell them for some shopping money" said Mae in a condescending voice.

"Yeah I heard about that, how you like to use your looks to get men to lower their guards or to do what you want them to, so I made sure that I was the one dealing with you, not that I think they would fall for some old hag anyway" said Connie with a smirk on her face.

Mae's calm and collected face contorted into one of pure disgust. She then jumped high into the air and brought her sword down onto Connie. Connie jumped back as far as she could in order to avoid the enraged Mae; she was able to move far enough to keep from being hurt, landing a few feet away and landing on her knees with her left hand firm on the ground she had gotten away from the attack, but she was caught off guard when she saw that the spot where the sword landed now had a huge gash that went down at least three feet into the ground. It was now clear to Connie that if she took any of Mae's attacks head on she might not survive.

Connie took in a deep breath in order to calm her nerves, she knew couldn't beat Mae in terms of fighting ability. She needed to change her approach if she wanted to beat Mae she had to stop charging in and come up with a game plan, and that is what she did.

Connie pulled out a lollipop from the inside pocket of her jacket and popped it into her mouth. She then took out a long string from her pants pocket.

"Licorice Whip" said Connie.

In place of the string was now a long piece of licorice with a hard candy handle at the end.

"What the hell do you expect to do with that, you brat?" said Mae.

"Well it's a whip so I guess I'll whip your ass" said Connie happily.

"Ahhhhhhhhhhh" yelled Mae as she charged at Connie, her sword pointed straight for Connie's heart.

Connie gripped the handle of her whip and flicked it at the incoming Mae. Mae dodged the attack by jumping to the side, but Connie knew she would do this and before the whip hit the ground she swung the whip to the side where Mae was. Mae swiped her sword at the incoming whip, easily cutting through it. Mae then landed and kicked off the ground and rushed right for Connie once again. Connie tried to move away from the enclosing Mae but before she could get far enough away she tripped and fell on to the ground, upon falling down a look of terror fell over her face as Mae's charge got closer and closer but before Mae could get close enough to put in the final blow she found herself stuck to the ground.

"What the hell, why can't I move" said Mae.

Mae then looked over at Connie who had a wide grin on her face.

"Bet you didn't know I was such a good actress huh" said Connie.

"WHAT?! What did you do to me?" said Mae.

"Oh I didn't do anything to you, but I did turn the ground into sticky caramel, I have to admit I didn't know if you would believe my whole accidentally fell down act but it looks like you did, and because you did, you got cocky and didn't look where you were going. So now I just have to take you down" said Connie confidently.

"Ha-ha, do you think I'm stupid, so long as I can move my arms I can cut down any attack you throw at me, don't let my looks deceive you I have been, dealing with over confident people all my life, those who think they are better than me or think they have some kind of advantage over me, but then I take them down no matter what, and with every person I take down I get more and more of what I want, control and money, because so long as I have loads of that then no one will ever be able to beat me!" said Mae hysterically.

"Will you shut it already" said Connie.

"What did you say?" said Mae.

"I don't care about being better then you, I just want to stop you from hurting the people of this island anymore then you already have, and the only way to do that is to take you down, so forget about your money and your control, and know that I'm gonna beat you the best way I know how, with candy!" said Connie.

Connie pulled out one of her knives along with a sheet of paper and once again coated it in a hard candy but instead of making it into a blade she turned it into a long spear and a large thin and flexible fruit sheet.

Connie then charged at Mae with everything she had while at the same time throwing the spear at Mae with all of her strength. Mae did as she said she would and easily cut the spear down before it made contact with her and as soon as she did Connie threw the sheet blocking Mae's vision until she cut through it. That was when Mae noticed Connie had disappeared, she scanned the area quickly to find her but she was nowhere to be found, that was when Mae heard something coming from above her.

After Connie threw the sheet to block Mae's vision she jumped into the air over Mae's head. She then bit the lollipop in her mouth then pulled out the plain white stick. She then turned the stick into a large mallet.

"Rock Candy Mallet!" yelled Connie.

Unfortunately for Mae she didn't have enough time to react, so the mallet hit her square on the top of her head. She made a face of great pain as she fell over face forward on to the caramel covered floor.

Connie gave a sigh of relief as she sat down from the exhaustion of the fight and the lowering of her blood sugar from her last three candy constructs. She decided to catch her breath and get her energy and sugar back up before she back in the fight. It was then that she looked over at Maze and Kal's fights.

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><p>Maze was in a hand to hand battle with castor, the angler fish fishman, his giant mouth and dozens of huge and jagged spear like teeth showing from his always open mouth and his light lure at the top of his head swaying back and forth as he moved around.<p>

* * *

><p>Kal's fight on the other hand was a bit different, it seemed as though Kal hadn't drawn his sword even once since his fight had started. He was dodging the wide arm movements made by Geon he to hadn't pulled out his shield and seemed as though he was just playing around.<p>

"You done jumping around yet, pretty boy?" said Geon as he finally donned his huge shield to his right arm.

"Fine with me" said Kal calmly as he charged at Geon his hand on the hilt of his sword.

"Flash Slash" said Kal as he drew his sword at an amazing speed.

But something was wrong, Kal felt a sharp pain coming from his side this caused him to be off by half a second in his timing and instead of slicing Geon his sword met with the shield and before Kal's eyes was the worst sight a swordsmen could see, his blade shattering to pieces.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Oh no how could this happen Kal lost his sword. This will not end pretty **

**So everyone if you liked what you read leave a comment in the reviews and if you really liked it head over to the forums where you can discuss the story and submit your characters.**

**** myforums/Raverns/5899739/****

**So until next time guys and gals, look out for the next chapter and stay awesome!**

**In the next chapter of One Piece: The Next Story- Kal has lost his sword in a battle with a powerful opponent who wields an even stronger shield. Will this be the end of our beloved First Mate or will Kal show us what his sword style can really do. Look out for the next chapter to find out!**

**Chapter 20: Sword vs. Shield- The way of ****Dorō to shīsusutairu!**


	19. Chapter 19: Sword vs Shield!

**Chapter 19: Sword vs. Shield- The way of ****Dorō to shīsusutairu!**

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><p>Previously on One Piece: The Next Story! - The Typhoon Pirates had decided to take the Falcone Guardians one on one to better their chances against them. Connie took on the femme fatal of the Guardians Mae Chase. Due to Mae's years of combat experience it seemed as though Connie didn't have a chance, but after using Mae's overconfidence to her advantage, Connie was able to come out on top and secure the win. While that was happening, Kal was in combat with the Woton Geon, after getting a feel for the way Geon fought Kal went in for the kill but, right before he could land his attack, a sharp pain from his side caused him to miss his mark and hit Geon's shield resulting in the shattering of his sword, now Kal must defeat this hulking enemy without his weapon.<p>

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><p><strong>On the south bound street-<strong>

Kal was caught off guard he lost his sword, his only means of attack, and he was facing an opponent that he couldn't afford to not fight seriously. While Kal was in thought, Geon made his move. Geon threw his giant fist at Kal.

Kal saw the fist coming but once again the pain in his side prevented him from getting out of the way, he took the attack full on, he was knocked back a full fifty feet away, but miraculously landing on his feet, but Geon kept on his charge, this time with his shield leading the way.

"Shield Charge" yelled Geon as he tackled Kal hitting him square in the chest with his shield.

Kal was pushed hard onto his back. Kal now felt the same pain he felt on his side on his chest. It was at this moment that Kal realized that the ribs he had broken in the fight with Zerif must not had fully healed yet, or he might had put strain on it during his fight on the ship. Kal quickly pulled out the pain meds from his pocket in hopes that it would numb the pain enough for him to continue the fight, unfortunately he only had two pills left, at best they would last him about two hours, and that's if he wasn't in a fight, he had no idea how long they would last if in one, but he took his chances and took the both of them.

After taking the pills Kal noticed Geon charge at him shield first. Kal felt the effects of the meds almost immediately, and was able to jump out of the way of the charging behemoth just in time.

Kal was happy that the pills were working but he knew that unless he could find a way to fight back that this fight was only going to end one way.

It was at this time that Kal remembered something his sensei had once told him.

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><p><strong>Ten Years ago- <strong>

After being a part of the dojo for a few weeks a young Kal was practicing his sword draw late into the night in order to perfect it, while in deep concentration; Kal did not notice his sensei Goa walk up behind him. Goa then proceeded to slap the back of his head hard enough to make him fall on his face.

"Oww, what was that for?!" asked Kal.

"How many times have I told you not to sneak in here at night?" said Goa.

"Eight?" said Kal in a curious tone.

This time Goa hit the top of Kal's head.

"What the hell!" said Kal?

"That was for being a smart mouth, now why are you training here and not your home?" said Goa.

"The nuns at the orphanage said I keep them awake when I practice and to go do it somewhere else" said Kal.

Goa gave a look at Kal, before going over to one of the dojo wall and picking up a practice sword that was hanging up.

"Well if you're here to practice, then let's see if it's paid off, don't worry I'll go easy on you." said Goa as he entered the first stance.

Kal had a huge smile on his face as he also entered the first stance. Both of them locked eyes waiting for the other to make a move, but Kal got impatient and made the first move. Less than a fraction of a second later Goa also unleashed his attack.

"Flash Slash" yelled the both of them in unison.

Their swords clashed but Goa won it almost immediately since Kal lost his grip on his sword and it flew to the back of the dojo. After the realization that he had lost his sword Kal dropped his head in disappointment.

"What are you doing, keep fighting" said Goa.

"What are you talking about, I lost my sword I can't fight anymore" said Kal.

"You are a practitioner of Dorō to shīsusutairu, do you know what that means?" said Goa.

Kal shook his head; he didn't know what it meant.

"Do you even listen during training, sigh, it means draw and sheath style, and so as long as you have either your sword or sheath in your hand, you can and will, always find a way to fight back" said Goa with a small smile on his face.

Kal took those words seriously and the next day he practiced using his sheath.

* * *

><p><strong>The present-<strong>

"Thank you for bringing me back to my senses sensei" said Kal to himself as he gripped his sheath with his left hand and what was left of his sword, which was mostly just the hilt, in his right.

"Talking to yourself huh pretty boy" said Geon.

"I apologize, you now have my full attention" said Kal with his confidence reignited.

Geon made a mad dash at Kal, he was running at his full speed with his right arm ready to throw a punch with all of his might and his momentum behind it Kal, but instead of getting out of the way Kal stood his ground.

"Second Stance" said Kal as he stomped his left foot on the ground, twisted his body to the right and brought his sheath horizontally onto his chest.

"Sheath Swatter!" yelled Kal.

As Geon's fist was about to reach Kal, Kal swatted his fist away with his sheath causing Geon to stop his charge. Geon was now wide open and Kal took advantage of this.

"Fourth Stance" said Kal as he placed the hilt of his sword back into the sheath and twisting to the left.

"Sheath Slam" said Kal as he slammed his sheath into Geon's gut.

Geon was knocked back a few feet but remained on his feet, but the attack did do damage, which was noticeable by the look on Geon's face which made him look as though he was about to throw up.

"Is…that the best you…got" said Geon as he held back his urge to vomit.

"Not even close" said Kal confidently.

"Oh yeah well, you still can't really take me down with that piece of driftwood in your hands" said Geon.

"Come over here and find out" said Kal.

Geon did just that, he rushed at Kal with everything he had with his shield front and center.

"Shield Charge" yelled Geon.

Kal planted his feet and entered a drawing position.

"Sensei, please give me your strength" thought Kal.

"Fifth Stance: Hilt Crasher!" yelled Kal as he crashed the hilt of his sword into the center of Geon's shield.

Geon was stopped in his tracks, as both attacks clashed against each other. Neither Kal nor Geon would give an inch, but Kal's attack was too much for Geon to handle especially after taking that shot to his gut from Kal's sheath.

Geon was blasted back over one-hundred feet away, his shield had a huge dent in the center of it which extended through the back of his shield, and the arm the shield was on had every bone in it shattered, even a few of his ribs were broken from the force of the attack. He lied unconscious on the city streets.

Kal had taken down Geon and was about to help his friends, but just as Kal was about to head over to help Maze finish his fight, the pain in his chest and side came back. The pain meds had worn off much sooner then he thought, apparently his fight had caused the drugs to wear off faster. Kal was now unable to help Maze who, from what he saw, was having a hard time dealing with Castor.

* * *

><p><strong>On the north bound street-<strong>

Maze was panting heavily with his right and left arms buffed, while Castor didn't look as though he had taken a single hit.

"Are you done fighting back yet young man" said Castor.

"Not even" said Maze as he breathed heavily.

Maze raised his arms and threw a punch at Castor's chin, but Castor brushed it to the side and side stepped within arm's length of Maze's chest.

"Hundred Tile True Punch" said Castor as he sent a straight punch into Maze's stomach.

Maze was shot backwards from the force of the punch, he fell over and hit his head onto the street.

As Maze lied down on the street, his head in a daze, he kept hearing a muffled voice in the back of his mind, but soon the voice got louder and clearer.

* * *

><p><strong>Inside Maze's head-<strong>

"Get up ya bum, what I tell ya about lying on your back, to get the hell back up!" Yelled the voice

"I can't he's too strong, to fast" said Maze.

"No shit, what do ya expect when ya using those huge mitts of yours, I'm surprise ya can hit anything the way ya have been fighting, no stop being a pansy and fight the way I taught ya, and for shits sake wrap up ya hands" said the voice.

* * *

><p><strong>Back at the fight- <strong>

Maze got up off the ground and brushed himself off. He looked over at Connie who was still catching her breath from her fight with Mae.

"Connie, throw me those bandages in your bag" said Maze.

Connie rummaged through her bag until she found a roll of bandages.

"Catch" said Connie as she threw the bandages over to Maze.

Maze caught the bandages and then proceeded to wrap up his hands and forearms. Once he was down he put down the bandages and looked over at Castor.

"Thanks for waiting" said Maze.

"No problem, I felt as though if I let you finish you would give me a much better fight" said Castor.

"Well your feeling was right, I'm sorry for earlier, you were fighting me as a martial artist and I was fighting you as just some bum. So now, if you're gonna fight me as a martial artist, then I'm gonna fight you as a Boxer" said Maze with a small grin on his face and his arms held up.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Well there it is guys in case you didn't figure out Maze is a boxer and Kal's style relies on his sheath just as much as it does on the draw. Big additions to these two's fighting styles and the story from this point forward. I have to admit that when I first started creating Maze I knew I didn't just want him to be a Devil Fruit user I wanted him to also be a trained fighter so I spent days just researching different ones until I realized that I should use something I know very well which is boxing and as for Kal I chose to go with the sheath addition to his style because I always thought it would be so cool if a swordsmen used every part of his weapon and not just the blade. I hope you all liked it.**

**So everyone if you liked what you read leave a comment in the reviews and if you really liked it head over to the forums where you can discuss the story and submit your characters. **

**** myforums/Raverns/5899739/****

**So until next time guys and gals, look out for the next chapter and stay awesome!**

* * *

><p><strong>In the next chapter of One Piece: The Next Story-With Maze finally coming to terms with the flaws in the way he has been fighting has decided to do what he was trained to do, he is now ready to fight seriously against Castor, a very dangerous fighter and fishman karate practitioner. Now the fight of the leaders of the two groups are about to start. Check out the next chapter to see how it goes down.<strong>

**Chapter 20: The Leaders Face Off- Boxing vs. Karate!**


	20. Chapter 20:The Leaders Face Off!

**Chapter 20: The Leaders Face Off- Boxing vs. Karate!**

* * *

><p><strong>Previously on One Piece: The Next Story- After a definitive win on Kal's part against the hulking mass that was Geon, Kal finally felt the delayed pain from his prior injuries. Now Maze is in possibly his toughest fight to date. After taking a resounding beating from Castor, the supposed leader of the Falcone Guardians, Maze realized that if he wanted to beat him then he needed to put on the gloves and show him what a boxer can do when his back is against the ropes and time is running out.<strong>

* * *

><p><strong>On the street-<strong>

The bodies of the unconscious or dead Falcone members encircled Maze and Castor creating a kind of arena as they starred each other down.

Maze had both of his arms up in a Peek-A-Boo style, which covered the bottom half of a boxer's face where the hands are placed in front of the boxer's face, like in the babies' game of the same name, so that all you could see were his eyes and the top of his head.

Castor put his right arm close to his side and stuck out his left arm with his hand made into a fist. From a distance the fist covered most of Castor's body.

Maze made the first move as he dashed toward Castor while still keeping his guard up, but Castor wasn't about to just let Maze score a hit on him.

"Hundred Tile True Punch" said Castor as he pulled in his left arm and shot out his right.

This time Maze was ready for the attack, right as the attack was about to hit him Maze weaved to his left, and when he was in Castor's space Maze threw a hard right straight into Castor's stomach.

Castor was pushed back a bit by the attack but not enough for him to lose his focus. Castor quickly rallied and retaliated.

"Fin Chop" said Castor as he brought a karate chop onto Maze's right shoulder.

This was enough to force Maze down enough for Castor to get some distance. Castor backed stepped a few feet away to get away from Maze's reach and putting his back against the wall of one of the nearby abandoned houses, but Maze wasn't discouraged, actually this was exactly what he wanted.

Maze straitened himself out and stood up right. He made a second dash at Castor, but this time when Castor tried to counter it, Maze stopped out of range of the attack instead of pushing in. As soon as Castor's attack missed Maze stepped in and shot out his left arm.

"Swarm-Jab" said Maze as he sent a flurry of jabs at Castor, who was parrying and block them, although the attacks weren't very heavy, the sheer number of punches that Maze was firing off was keeping Castor from counter-attacking.

Maze steadily increased the speed of his jabs with every jab he sent out. As the speed and ferocity of Maze's attack increased so did the pressure that was put onto Castor, with the wall at his back and the non-stop punches coming at him, Castor couldn't find a way out of the attack. He also realized that with the attacks speed constantly he would no longer be able to parry or block the jabs.

Finally Castor, came up with an idea, he lifted up his left leg and slammed his foot into the wall behind him.

"Falling Tide" said Castor as the wall behind him started to crumble, the debris was about to fall onto Maze, but he got out of the way of the attack easily, and as a large amount of rubble was falling toward Castor he simply destroyed them with his punches as they got close. Now Castor was freed from Maze's attack and was ready to repay the favor.

Castor quickly closed the distance between him and Maze.

"Raging Waves" said Castor as he released a onslaught of punches and kicks at Maze.

"Muscle Guard" said Maze as he buffed his arms while keeping his Peek-A-Boo style up.

His arms became a shield of pure muscle that was keeping Castor's attacks at bay. Due to enlarging his arms, the bandages that Maze had wrapped around them earlier were now in shreds only leaving a few strands around his fists.

The roles had been reversed, now it was Maze feeling the wrath of nearly endless attacks, the only difference was while Maze needed the wall to get the best out of his move Castor didn't, every time Maze tried to move back to get away from the attack Castor moved with him step for step.

During this time Maze had noticed that his arms were nearly at their limit, they were covered in and wouldn't be able to block the attacks for much longer. He needed a plan but no matter how hard he thought he couldn't think of a punch that could get him out of this problem. That's when it hit him, what he needed wasn't a punch at all, he just needed the right situation.

Maze had stopped moving back and was now holding his ground, while Castor was continuing his assault; Maze was buffing his leg muscles, in a way that Castor wouldn't notice. Maze then prepared himself for what he had to do next.

Maze pushed off the ground with every bit of muscle he had stored up in his legs and shot himself into the air. Maze had jumped off of an angle and landed a few yards behind of Castor.

Castor was caught off guard by the method Maze had used to evade anymore of his attack. He had never thought someone would attempt to jump away from it, but the amazement of what he had witnessed quickly faded as he turned around to finish what he had started,

Castor ran at Maze with a look of satisfaction on his face. He pulled his right arm back in preparation to throw out another Hundred Tile True Punch.

Maze knew what was coming, and he knew that the way his arms were, that there was no way he could block another attack. Lucky for him he had decided that his arms weren't what were going to take the hit.

Maze buffed his chest as much as it would go until it was close to 6x's its normal size. He planted his feet firmly on to the ground and spread his arms wide open; he seemed as if he wanted to be hit by Castor's attack.

"Hundred Tile True Punch" said Castor as he nailed Maze in his enlarged chest.

Maze took the attack head on; he hoped that his buffed chest would absorb enough of the force for him to do what he needed to do. Maze buckled down as much as he could to make sure he wasn't pushed away by the attack, and that's just what happened he withstood the attack and was no ready to finish this.

"Muscle Clinch!" said Maze as he grabbed Castor in his large arms and applied as much pressure as he could onto the now constricted Castor.

Castor let out all of the air out of his lungs when the full force of Maze's strength was squeezing down on him. He fell into unconsciousness shortly afterward and fell to the floor.

Like Connie and Kal before, after the end of the arduous match Maze fell to the floor exhausted from fatigue. Maze stared at the now mostly still Castor who was breathing slowly which showed he was still alive. Right before Maze could lie down on the ground, he saw a knife being plunged into Castor's chest.

The person holding the knife was crouching over Castor, he was a young blonde haired man wearing a zipped up white fur coat with a pair of small white wings poking out of it, khakis, but no shoes. He pulled the knife out of Castor and whipped it off on his leg.

"You're a real pathetic sight Castor" said the blonde man.

He then looked around the area to see the Falcone members and the Guardians had all been defeated.

"I'm late a few minutes and you all get taken down, a bunch of poor excuses for bad guys" said the blonde man.

Just then the Boss Falcone walked out of the mansion to see what had happened. When his eyes fell onto the blonde man his eyes nearly shot out from his head, he then quickly ran to the blonde man.

"Duke! Where have you been, do you have any idea what has been going on since you last called in I…" said Boss Falcone who was still talking.

Duke was not even paying attention to what the Boss was saying; all he heard as he talked was an annoying buzzing sound that just wouldn't stop, so he decided to stop it himself.

Before anyone knew what had happened Duke had swiftly slit the throat of the Boss. You could see the look of shock on the Boss' face as he fell to the ground and eventually bleed out.

"That's much better" said Duke to himself with a look of ecstasy on his face.

Maze and Kal looked in horror of this new opponent who had just appeared when they were all in no condition to fight at the moment.

"What the hell is wrong with you?!" said Connie in an angry voice as she got up from the ground with her own knives gripped tightly in her hands.

Duke gave a deranged look over in Connie's direction.

"Are you talking to me?" said Duke.

Maze and Kal could both feel that this person was not someone Connie could fight when she wasn't at 100%. They tried to get up to help her but every time they did their wounds prevented them from doing so.

"You know, I really don't like people talking to me that way" said Duke as he rose up his knife and walked toward Connie.

It was at this point that Connie could finally feel Duke's immense killing intent. She knew that if she fought him how she was now then there was almost no chance of survival.

"First I waste my time looking for that doctor, and now I'm being told off by some brat trying to play hero" said Duke.

"Wait, you said you wasted your time looking for the doctor, are you saying you guys don't have him" said Maze.

"Not that it's any of your business, but no, we don't" said Duke.

A small smile fell over Maze's face as the possibility of his friend being alive was possible, but then he remembered how the office was covered in blood.

As Duke got closer and closer to Connie, Maze and Kal couldn't help but feel helpless as their friend was in danger.

Just as Duke was no more than a few feet away from Connie, a pair of scalpels came flying across Duke's face, barely missing it.

Everyone looked over in the direction that that scalpels came from, and a few meters was Miles who was standing up with his hands in his coat pockets.

"Oh, well if it isn't the elusive Dr. Miles, let me guess you're gonna fight me in place of miss mouth over here" said Duke with the same demented look he had when talking to Connie.

"Do I look stupid to you" said Miles with a straight face.

Everyone that was still conscious all had a look of confusion on their faces.

"What?" said Duke?

"I'm a doctor and nothing more, I barely have the strength to take on one of the Falcone's slightly more adept flunkies let alone one of the Guardians" said Miles as he walked over to where Castor was slowly bleeding out of his chest.

Miles pulled out a few medical supplies and began operating on Castor right there and then.

"So I'm going to do what a regular doctor does and save this man's life" said Miles.

The look on Duke's face now became even more demented.

"Do you really think I'm going to just let you do what you want" said Duke menacingly.

"Of course not, that's what he's here for" said Miles as he pointed up.

Just as Miles said that a dark figure fell from the sky. He would have landed right on top of Duke had he not dodged at the last second.

The dark figure was wearing a white, long sleeved, buttoned down shirt, a pair of black suspenders, black wing tipped shoes, and white gloves on his hands. Although what was most noticeable was the large grin on his face and the scythe that he had in his right hand and lying across the back of his neck.

The scythe had a long, thin black handle around 6'0 long, and the blade was thin, slightly curved, and from base to the tip of the blade was about 2'0 long.

Maze was in shock when he saw the face of the dark figure.

Connie could only see the back of his head but she knew exactly who this person was.

"Franklin!" said Connie and Maze.

"Hello my friends, how are you doing" said Franklin with his wide smile.

"What are you doing here, this place is too dangerous" said Maze.

Franklin just looked over at Maze and gave a reassuring glance that said as though he would be fine.

"Hey don't tell me you're gonna ignore me to Mr. Fancy" said Duke.

"Of course not sir, me and Shikama just wanted to let our friends know that we will end this quickly" said Franklin happily.

"Who's Shikama?" said everyone except Miles who was in deep concentration while operating on Castor.

"That would be my friend here, well to be more accurate, in this form his name would be "Harvest" just to be accurate" said Franklin while pointing to his scythe.

"Oh, so you have a special weapon huh, well let me show you what I have" said Duke as he gripped his knife.

Duke then slit his wrist, his blood seeped out of his wound, but it didn't touch the ground, instead it started to form a shape in his hand, in a few seconds the blood had formed a blade.

"Blood Blade! Now shall we have some fun" said Duke.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: So seriously how many of you saw that coming, be honest. Anyway so happy to have finally made it to chapter 20 so proud right now, not only in myself but in all those who have read and helped make my story what it currently is. Truly, thank you all.**

**So everyone if you liked what you read leave a comment in the reviews and if you really liked it head over to the forums where you can discuss the story and submit your characters.**

****h******** myforums/Raverns/5899739/****

**So until next time guys and gals, look out for the next chapter and stay awesome!**

* * *

><p><strong>In the next chapter of One Piece: The Next Story- With the last member of the Falcone Guardians finally showing up, and Franklin showing an unknown side of himself. How will the battle of the Typhoons and Falcone's end. Check out the next chapter to find out.<strong>

**Chapter 21: The Last Fight-Scythe vs. Blood!**


	21. Chapter 21: The Last Fight!

**Chapter 21: The Last Fight-Scythe vs. Blood!**

* * *

><p><strong>Previously on One Piece: The Next Story- After defeating the powerful Castor, Maze and his friends felt as though they had finally won the war with the Falcone's, but with the arrival of the fourth Guardian, Duke Mason, a psychopathic Skypian that is out for blood, and went as far as to stab the downed Castor just for presenting what he called a pathetic sight, and killing his Boss just for talking. With Maze and Kal in no condition to fight, that left only Connie, who was still weary from her own battle. Connie had soon realized that Duke was not someone she could take on without being at her best, luckily Miles appeared before Duke could begin his attack, but Miles was not there to fight instead, while he started operating on Castor, he left fighting Duke to Franklin, who appeared out of nowhere brandishing a Scythe he called Shikama, now he and Duke are about to face off in a battle that will decide the fate of the war.<strong>

* * *

><p><strong>In front of the Falcone Mansion-<strong>

Franklin and Duke charged at each other with their weapons gripped tightly in their hands. Duke brought his Blood blade down on to Franklin who blocked the attack with the Shikama's handle. Franklin pushed Duke back with a kick to his gut, Franklin then swung Shikama nearly cutting Duke in half as narrowly avoided the attack, but regardless of his evasion there was still a small and shallow cut on Duke's abdomen, which was now visible through the cut on his coat.

You could see the look of anger on Duke's face as he looked down at his newly acquired wound and the tearing of his fur coat.

"You bastard! Do you have any idea how much I loved this coat" said Duke in a rage.

"I'm afraid I don't, but I must ask if you are going to stop to have a conversation every time I injure you, cause if so, then we are going to be talking quite a bit" said Franklin as he readied Shikama.

Franklin charged at Duke while he twirled Shikama on his right side, he then shot his Shikama down on Duke, but he avoided the attack of which left a mid size crack in the road. Duke took advantage of this and used a counter attack. Duke had landed near the dead body of Boss Falcone who was lying in a pool of his own blood, Duke motioned his hand over the Boss' blood, a small amount of the blood then moved to the tip of Duke's pointer finger it then became a perfect sphere.

"Blood bullet!" yelled Duke as he fired the blood at an astounding speed.

Franklin moved as fast as he could out of the way of the bullet but he was still nicked as it flew by him. Franklin looked relieved that he had dodged the attack but when he looked over at Duke he felt a bit uneasy by the strange smile on his face.

"I hope you don't think that was my only bullet. Blood Bullet: Rapid Fire!" said Duke.

Multiple spheres of blood started floating in front of Duke and as they appeared he fired them off at rapid speed. Franklin saw as they were coming at him, he started evading as many as they could but with everyone he dodged another two were sent at him, he jumped out of the way of the bullets as fast as he could while at the same time making sure that there was no one behind him that could be hit by them, but unfortunately one of the bullets found its mark and hit Franklin in his left arm.

"Ha, I knew you couldn't escape all of them" said Duke.

Franklin was still as a statue as he looked at the wound on his arm, as if he was petrified by fear, but anyone that could see his face knew that it wasn't fear that had kept him still. Out of nowhere everyone watching the fight felt a chill go down their spines, even Miles who's full attention was on Castor felt this sudden cold feeling.

Everyone there knew exactly what this sudden chill was; it was something they felt every time they entered a fight for their lives, it was killing intent, but something wasn't right, the killing intent coming off of Franklin, felt different from what they had previously felt from Duke. Duke's was like having someone threaten you with a knife to your throat, while Franklin's was more like someone having already killed you, as if there was no hope left.

As everyone looked at Franklin they saw the same grin that he always had, but his eyes were different, instead of the soft kind eyes he had before, they were now soulless and crazed.

"You hurt Andrew. You're going to regret that" said Franklin in a low monotone voice.

Franklin switched Shikama from his right hand over to his left, and shot a terrifying stare over to Duke.

Despite Duke's fondness for the kill, he couldn't help but feel as though he had just walked into a pool of sharks, but he was unwilling to just let himself be killed.

"You think I'm afraid of you, I've never lost a fight not since I was thrown out of my island to when I killed my first crew, and I'll be damned if I'm gonna lose to some nobody piece of shit like you. Blood Stream!" yelled Duke as he pulled all of the blood that was left in Boss Falcone and shot it at Franklin as a pressurized stream.

The stream sweped from left to right as Duke tried to hit Franklin. As Duke used the attack he found it difficult to hit Franklin due to him moving so quickly and ducking under or jumping over the stream as it got close, which Franklin wanted to avoid at all cost due to whatever was touched by the stream being cut in half.

But as everyone watched Franklin avoid they knew that he was not going to be touched by the attack, not while he was moving the way he was, it seemed as though he had no bones in his body, the way his arms and legs moved in order to not be hit, but the whole time he was moving the look in his eyes never faded, and soon he was in range of Duke.

With Shikama in his left hand he swung it to the right leaving a gash on Duke's stomach, but the gash was not big enough to kill him, it just forced him back.

"This isn't over! Blood Spikes!" yelled Duke as a few of the drops of blood that was on the ground shot spikes at Franklin. Franklin was unable to move from where he was standing due to the spikes.

"Now that's more like it, nice and still. Now what do you say I end this huh. Red Tide!" said Duke as he formed a vortex of blood around Franklin from the remains of the surrounding henchmen.

You could hear the vortex ripping through Franklin, although no one could see exactly what was happening inside. Soon the vortex started to fade and you could make out Franklin that was still standing in the center of it, he clothes and skin was covered in small cuts all over his body.

"Ha, now let's see how you like being attacked by your own blood you, FANCY BASTARD!" said Duke as he motioned his hand in front of Franklin's body, but nothing happened.

Duke continued to move his hands but no matter what he did, the blood wouldn't responds to him, he became frustrated and began cursing under his breath, Franklin on the other hand just laughed.

"HAHAHAHAHA, sorry to disappoint you "sir" but if my blood is what you are after, I'm afraid someone already beat you to the punch" said Franklin with a look of pure joy on his face.

Now that Franklin was freed from the spikes he made a mad dash for Duke with Shikama. In response to this Duke took control of the blood coming out of the gash in his gut and covered it all over his body. Duke's body became enveloped in a crimson armor of blood, it added about a foot to his height and what appeared to be a pair of rabbit ears formed at the top of his head.

Duke, while enclosed in his armor, dashed out of the way of the attack as if it was nothing. Franklin hit the air when his attack missed, and he seemed unfazed by it.

"So how do you like my friend, "Harvey", I named, and designed it after my old pet which of course I killed, it gives me a boost in strength, speed and of course defense, so now you have no chance against…."

"Vivisection" said Franklin as he sliced Duke in half from head to toe.

Duke's two halves fell to the floor as the blood that was used for the armor returned to its liquid form and pooled around the halves.

Franklin moved Shikama back over to his right hand and almost immediately his face returned to its happy and lively look.

Maze and everyone else were in shock from what they had just witnessed, and were not able to wrap their heads around how Franklin did what he did. Franklin then walked to where Maze was still lying down.

"Like I said my friend, I had it completely under control" said Franklin as he put his hand out to help Maze up on his feet.

Maze grabbed Franklin hand and got back up. He then looked over at Miles who was now just finishing Castor's surgery.

"Well, that should do it; he should wake up in a little while, so one of you carry him to a bed" said Miles.

* * *

><p><strong>A little while later-<strong>

"Why is it that with plenty of men around, I the only women still conscious, is the one who has to carry the two-hundred pound fishman up a flight of stairs" said Connie.

"Well in all fairness Ms. Connie, I too am helping with carrying Castor to a bed" said Franklin.

"Stop complaining, and get him to a bed already" said Miles as he lit his cigarette.

"I'm just happy that we're finally done with those strange Mafioso's" said Kal as he was being helped up the stairs by Maze.

"Yeah and the best part, we won" said Maze.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: There it is everyone, the final part of the battle between Typhoons and Falcone. I hope you enjoyed the fight and even more so Franklin, I put a lot of work into him, and little fact he was originally going to be the main character of this story, before I came up with Maze. **

**So everyone if you liked what you read leave a comment in the reviews and if you really liked it head over to the forums where you can discuss the story and submit your characters.**

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**So until next time guys and gals, look out for the next chapter and stay awesome!**

* * *

><p><strong>In the next chapter of One Piece: The Next Story- The 4<strong>**th**** member of the crew will be revealed along with a few secrets about the Connection between the Falcone's and the Marines. Also the return of captain Gran as he puts in motion a plan to get Maze, so for all of that make sure to check out the next chapter.**

**Chapter 22: The Fate of Vertain and The Crew's Doctor!**


	22. Chapter 22:The Fate of Vertain!

**Chapter 22: The Fate of Vertain and the Crew's Doctor!**

* * *

><p><strong>Previously on One Piece: The Next Story! - As the battle between Franklin and Duke began it appeared as though Duke had the advantage thanks to his Devil Fruit, but Franklin soon showed that he was more than capable of taking on Duke. After a hard fought battle, where Franklin showed a side of himself that no one knew he had in him, Franklin came out on top. Now the Typhoon pirates are resting in the mansion of the defeated Falcone's as they mend their wounds and see how the surgery of Castor the fishman turned out.<strong>

* * *

><p><strong>Inside the Falcone Mansion-<strong>

The Maze, Miles, and Castor sat around a large room filled with expensive furnishings and small knick knacks. Castor was lying on a bed in the middle of the room, while Miles was checking on the others to make sure they hadn't suffered any serious injuries from the battle with the guardians. He was currently checking Maze's hands for any fractures.

"Hey Miles" said Maze.

"What" said Miles as he continued to exam Maze's hands?

"Where did you go after we left you, we went back to your clinic but the whole place had been trashed" said Maze.

"If you really need to know, that happy friend of yours came up from the underground tunnel. At first I thought he was going to kill me, so I tried to fight back, but after he knocked me out rather quickly, he brought me somewhere safe, if he hadn't I would have run into that Duke fella while I was in the tunnels" said Miles.

"Really, but how did he know that you needed help?" said Maze.

"Hell if I know" said Miles.

"Wait, where is Franklin" said Maze.

"Last I saw him, he said he was going to check on your silver haired friend" said Miles.

* * *

><p><strong>In another room in the Mansion-<strong>

Kal was lying on a couch, while Connie was sitting in a nearby chair eating a bag of candy that she had hidden in her jacket pocket. Franklin on the other hand had set up a bunch of beakers and test tubes on a desk in the room and was pouring a bunch of colored liquids into them repeatedly, until the liquid became completely clear.

"Here you go Swordsmen, drink this it should help you with your pain and speed up your recovery a little" said Franklin.

"Are you a doctor?" asked Kal.

"Well technically, but I haven't thought of myself as one in quite a while" said Franklin.

"If you were a doctor, how come when I and Maze first met you, you didn't just check his hand yourself" asked Connie curiously.

"Well as I have already stated, I don't really see myself as a doctor anymore, and besides I had somewhere to be at the time and Miles is an excellent physician, I felt you would be in great hands" said Franklin.

"Sounds believable to me" said Kal as he drank the clear liquid.

Kal could feel the effects of the liquid immediately. He then got up on his feet and twisted his torso to see if there was still any pain, and just as Franklin had said the pain was gone.

"Wow, it really worked" said Kal.

"I'm glad to hear that, well I believe it is time for me to take my leave, goodbye" said Franklin as he began walking toward the door.

"Wait, let me ask you something" said Kal.

Franklin turned with a curious look on his face.

* * *

><p><strong>Back in the first room-<strong>

Castor was just waking up, and he felt a slight pain in his chest. He turned to see Maze and Miles discussing something.

"What am I doing here?" asked Castor.

"Well looks who's awake, took you long enough" said Miles as he took out one of his cigarettes.

"You felling better?" said Maze as he sat in a close by chair.

"You haven't answered my question; the last thing I remember was being stabbed by that disloyal bastard Duke" said Castor as he sat up on the bed.

"Well you're right, Duke stabbed you in the chest after you lost to me, but old doc Miles here performed emergency surgery on you and saved your life" said Maze.

"First I told you not to cal me doc, and second since when is thirty-four old" said Miles.

"It was a term of endearment, and second what do you have against being called doc?" said Maze.

"I spent a lot of years at school to get the title doctor, I deserve to be called as such" said Miles in a serious tone.

Castor sat in the bed listening to Maze and Miles bicker back and forth for a few minutes before he finally chimed in.

"So then I owe you my life doctor" said Castor.

"I wouldn't go that far, I just did my job" said Miles.

"Regardless, I am a man of honor, so I now owe you more then I could ever payback, please ask me for anything" said Castor as he bowed his head.

Miles was hesitant to speak, as he had never been in this type of situation, but Maze on the other hand was a bit more proactive.

"You should protect Vertain from this point on" said Maze quickly.

"What?" said Miles?

"Think about it, just because we got rid of the Falcone's today doesn't mean they won't pop back up at some point, with Castor protecting the city then at least there will be someone strong here that can help deal with any possible enemies" said Maze.

"Hmm, you do have a point, would you be willing to do that Castor?" asked Miles.

"It would be an honor" said Castor with a smile on his face.

"Then with that settled, Miles I want to ask if you will…"

"No" said Miles.

"But you don't even know what I was going to ask you" said Maze.

"You want me to join your crew right?" said Miles.

"Well yes, but why would you say no to that" said Maze.

"One, because like I said earlier, I'm a doctor with a little strength that's all not a pirate doctor, and second I get really bad sea sickness so I would be completely useless on a ship, and most importantly my patients still need me, so the answer is no" said Miles.

"Great, so now I have to look for another doctor. This is gonna take a while" said Maze.

"What are you talking about; last I checked you had a very capable doctor who would be more than willing to sail with you" said Miles.

"Who" asked Maze?

"Him" said Kal as he walked through the door and pointed to Franklin.

"Franklin's a doctor?" said Maze.

"I was in a past life" said Franklin.

"He's really good, he even makes his own medicine" said Connie who also walked into the room while crunching on some hard candy.

"If you would allow me, I would love to join your crew" said Franklin as he bowed.

"Franklin do you really want to come out to sea with us?" asked Maze.

"I cannot think of anything that would make me happier, "Captain"" said Franklin.

"Then that settles it, welcome to the crew" said Maze with a wide smile on his face.

* * *

><p><strong>Somewhere in the ocean-<strong>

Mae was sailing in a small boat as she removed the rest of the caramel off of herself.

"Great, and I was just getting used to the whole mob scene, Puffer is not going to like this" said Mae as she pulled out a den-den mushi from her coat.

* * *

><p><strong>At the West Blue Marine Base-<strong>

Vice-Admiral Puffer walked through the doors of Vice-Admiral's Calais' office with a worried look on his face.

"What is it" said Calais.

"We have a problem" said Puffer.

"What kind of problem?" said Calais?

"One of Lysen's projects was spotted on Vertain, and helped a bunch of pirates take down Falcone and his men" said Puffer.

"Do we know which one?" said Calais.

"From what Mae has told me, it sounds like#1" said Puffer.

"WHAT?!" said Calais as he slammed his fist on his desk.

"I thought he was taken care of" said Calais.

"Apparently not" said Puffer.

Calais then took out a piece of paper from his desk and passed it to Puffer.

"What is this?" asked Puffer.

"A request for transfer, you're going to Marine Ford" said Calais.

"Why" said Puffer?

"If he's out there, I don't want Lysen being attacked and killed by him" said Calais.

"He has plenty of guards he doesn't need me" said Puffer.

"None that know what #1 looks like, and it's not as though we can show his picture around. So you will go there and make sure 70% of our business isn't killed by a past problem, is that understood" said Calais in a threatening tone.

"Yes, understood" said Puffer.

"We cannot allow anything to go wrong right now, so don't let it" said Calais.

* * *

><p><strong>The next day-<strong>

The Typhoon Pirates along with their newly acquired Doctor said goodbye to their new friends and set sail to their next adventure. Maze and Kal carried a large barrel, with a spigot sticking out of it, up to the deck of the ship where Connie and Franklin were standing against the railing.

"To commemorate our newest crew mate I thought we could share a drink" said Maze as he pulled out four mugs and handed them out.

"So why didn't we do this when I became a part of the crew" said Connie as she filled her cup.

"Because we liked Franklin right from the start" said Maze playfully.

"Hahahah" said Connie.

"I appreciate all of this my friends, thank you" said Franklin.

"Okay enough talking, more drinking" said Kal.

* * *

><p><strong>Back at Vertain-<strong>

Castor was helping Miles move his things into a new clinic space, the whole time he had a confused look on his face.

"Doctor Miles" said Castor.

"What Castor" said Miles?

"About that Franklin man, how did you know he was a doctor did he tell you he was" said Castor.

"Of course not, but any doctor worth his degree knows who Dr. Vincent von Stein is" said Miles.

"Vincent? I thought his name was Franklin" said Castor.

"That may be what he calls himself now, but there is no way I could forget the face of the Chief medical officer of the Marines" said Miles.

* * *

><p><strong>On the ship-<strong>

The four shipmates brought all of their mugs together to toast their new friendships. A little while after Franklin broke from the group and pulled out a gold pocket watch from his pants pocket.

Visions of Franklin beheading one of Falcone's men, dragging the bodies of Marco and Georgie to the center of town and hanging them up and then writing the message on their bodies flooded through his mind.

"Just a little while longer, and I'll make you pay for what you did, but until then I wonder whose next" said Franklin under his breath.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: And the plot thickens, just who really is Franklin and what plans does he have for the Typhoon pirates, I guess you're just going to have to keep reading to find out. Now I really appreciate all of the characters I have recieved in these last 22 chapters but i have officially filled the Typhoon Pirates roster so i am no longer accepting crew OCS but i am still taking submissions for everything else. so keep them coming.**

**So as usual if you liked this chapter leave a review and if you really liked this chapter then head over to the forum where you can discuss the story and submit any OCs you may want to appear in the story.**

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**Now until next time guys and gals look out for the next chapter, stay awesome everyone.**

* * *

><p><strong>In the next chapter of One Piece: The Next Story-The Typhoon Pirates decide to relax the rest of the way to Louge Town, but a unexpected guest, threatens to ruin that peace, and it's going to get annoying.<strong>

**Chapter 23: The Annoying Man and his Bike!**


	23. Chapter23:The Annoying Man and his Bike!

**Chapter 23: The Annoying Man and his Bike!**

* * *

><p><strong>Previously on One Piece: The Next Story! – After finishing up things in Vertain, the Typhoon Pirates celebrated their friend Franklin joining their crew as the much needed doctor, and are now making their way to the home of the first Pirate king, Louge Town, the last stop for all pirates in the East Blue before they head into the Grand Line.<strong>

* * *

><p><strong>The Open Sea-<strong>

The Typhoon pirates were sailing through the ocean, as they were all huddled around each other discussing something very important.

"I like: The Candy Train" said Connie.

Maze, Kal, and Franklin, all stared at Connie.

"No" said Maze.

"No way" said Kal.

"I'm sorry Ms. Connie but I must agree with the others" said Franklin.

"Hump" pouted Connie.

The crew was discussing possible names for their ship, mainly due to the fact that they were tired of just calling it "the ship".

"Okay how about: The Edge" said Kal.

"Why would we call it the edge?" said Connie.

"Cause it's a cool name" said Kal confidently.

"No it's not" said Connie.

"Well it's better than Candy Train" said Kal.

Connie shot Kal a dirty look.

"Stop arguing, we have to come up with a name already" said Maze.

"Well you're the captain, come up with a name" said Connie.

Maze knew Connie was right, he should have come up with a name for the ship a long time ago but he hadn't had any good name come to him.

"If no one minds I actually have an idea for a name" said Franklin.

"Go for it" said Maze.

"Well I thought we should call it: The B…."

"AHHHHHHHHHHH"

Franklin's sentence was cut off by the sound of someone yelling in the distance on the right side of the ship, and then soon after something had crashed into the side of the ship.

The crew looked over the side of the ship to see what looked like a motorized tricycle floating near the ship.

"HELP ME" said a man that was floating alongside the tricycle in a booming voice.

* * *

><p><strong>A few minutes later-<strong>

After helping the man out of the sea, and lifting his bike onto the ship, the crew was able to get a good look at the man they had helped.

He was a 6'0 man in his late twenties with blonde hair in a ridiculous pompadour. He was wearing a white jumpsuit that was unzipped partway, a gold shirt, and gold chains hanged from his neck.

"Oh my God, thank you so much for saving my life, I thought I was a dead man back there" said the strange looking man.

"No problem man, so who are you and what are you doing in the middle of the ocean on a tricycle?" asked Maze.

"The name is Fred Johnson, and this tricycle here is my baby Lobo, it's a mechanized tricked out master piece of my own design, I was taking the advice of some of the villagers and decided to take a trip out to sea, and then I accidently pressed the rocket booster buttons on my bike, next thing I know I'm spinning out of control and ended up crashing into your ship "said Fred, as he pointed to a pair of rockets that were pointed in opposite directions on his bike.

"How did you get your bike to float on the water?" said Connie.

"Oh that's because of the jet dial that I attached to it, it really works great, but now I'm lost but I think my island is close by" said Fred with a smile.

"Okay, well if you're right then we should be able drop you off at your island if you want" said Maze.

"THAT'S GREAT, THANK YOU" said Fred in a booming voice

Now with their heads ringing from Fred's voice the crew went about taking care of their everyday chores.

* * *

><p><strong>In the ships make shift vault-<strong>

Maze was counting what was left of the previous ships owner's treasure, which would be essential when they got to Louge Town.

"What are you doing?" said Fred as he stood behind Maze.

Maze was caught off guard by the appearance of Fred. Maze centered himself and turned around to speak to Fred.

"I'm counting our treasure, to see how much we can spend when we get to our next destination" said Maze.

"Oh, what's your next destination?" asked Fred.

"Louge Town, it's the last stop between East Blue and the Grand Line so we have to prepare accordingly, so we have to make sure we can afford to do that" said Maze.

"Sounds important, here I'll help" said Fred.

Fred then proceeded to pick up a handful of gold coins from the treasure chest, as he began counting it he started having a sneezing fit. With every sneeze it got stronger and stronger until it knocked him into the ceiling of the vault, he then bounced off the walls and knocked over the treasure chest and Maze in the process while at the same time scattering the gold all over the room.

Maze had a huge scowl on his face partly from being knocked over, but mostly because he now had to clean up the treasure and count them all over again.

"I'm sorry, here let me help clean" said Fred.

"No! I mean, you know what, I think Kal said something about needing help with sails why don't you go help him" said Maze.

"OKAY" said Fred again in his booming voice.

Maze felt relieved when he was finally left alone but the ringing from Fred's voice just wouldn't stop.

* * *

><p><strong>On the deck-<strong>

Kal was adjusting the sails the way Connie had told him to do, and was almost finished when he saw Fred walking toward him.

"Hey Kal, Maze said you could use some help the sails" said Fred.

"Ah yeah sure why not, here hold this for me" said Kal.

Kal handed a rope to Fred, while he pulled down on a pair of separate ropes in order to open the sail up.

Fred almost immediately lost his grip on the rope and as soon as he did the sail rolled up and one of the ropes wrapped around Kal's ankle and carried him up with him. Kal was now hanging upside down from his ankle and was flailing in order to get down.

"Hold on I'll get you down" said Fred.

Fred ran toward a rope that was tied to the main mast, and untied it. This caused Kal to come crashing down onto the deck of the ship.

"Oww" said Kal as he got up from the ground.

"I'm so sorry Kal, I'll help you get everything back to how it was" said Fred as he reached for one of the ropes.

"No, I got it from here but Connie could definitely use your help though" said Kal quickly.

"OKAY THEN, BYE KAL" said Fred loudly.

Kal was knocked back by the sound of Fred's voice and got tangled up in the ropes he was working with.

"Damn it!" said Kal in frustration.

* * *

><p><strong>Connie's map room-<strong>

Connie was mapping out the crews route after they got to Louge Town, she knew they had to go through Reverse Mountain, if they wanted to avoid the calm belt, but with the way that tides of Reverse Mountain got they had to be prepared and ready for it. She was about to finish laying out the route when Fred burst through the door.

"HI CONNIE, I'M HERE TO HELP YOU!" said Fred.

Connie spilled a container of ink onto the map she had been working on.

"You son off a b…... what do you want Fred" said Connie trying to hold back her anger.

"I came to help you with, whatever it is you're doing, like Kal said" said Fred with an oblivious smile on his face.

"I'm okay actually, why don't you go see if Franklin needs your help" said Connie still trying to hold her temper at bay.

"Okay sounds great" said Fred as he walked out of the map room, slamming the door behind him

Fred slamming the door made all of the maps hanging off the walls of the room to fall over the floor and on top of Connie.

"UGGGGGGH" screamed Connie.

* * *

><p><strong>The Living Quarters-<strong>

Fred walked into the Living quarters of the Typhoon pirates, where Franklin was looking through his medical kit. Fred then closed the door behind him.

* * *

><p><strong>A few minutes later-<strong>

The rest of the crew were standing around the mast in a heated argument about Fred, they stopped talking when they saw Franklin coming out of the quarters holding an unconscious Fred by the neck with his left hand; Fred was covered in bruises especially in his face.

Franklin carried Fred over to his bike and strapped him into the seat, lastly he lowered the bike back into the sea, and he then took out Shikama and used the handle to press the Lobo's booster button. Fred spun away into the distance as the rockets went off.

"Franklin… You okay buddy" said Maze.

Franklin turned around to show a large smile.

"The Bandit" said Franklin.

"What?" said Maze, Kal, and Connie?

"That was name for the ship I came up with, since it was stolen" said Franklin.

Maze had a big smile on his face.

"I like it" said Maze.

"Agreed" said Kal.

"I still like Candy Train better" said Connie with a smirk.

"Well then, let's get "The Bandit" to Louge Town" said Maze.

* * *

><p><strong>Marine Base-<strong>

Lieutenant Kasuga was walking down the hall of the Marine base with a rather tall man, with purple shaggy hair that covered his right eye, and wearing a long sleeved white shirt underneath a sleeveless purple jacket, along with a pair brown pants and boots. She walked the man into a Captain Gran's office.

"Captain I brought the man you asked for" said Kasuga.

"Thank you Kasuga, you can leave now" said Gran.

Kasuga left the room immediately.

The man with the purple hair sat down in an open chair and put his feet up.

"So how can I help you?" said the purple haired man?

"Well Mr. Wright, I have been told you are a very capable bounty hunter, and I would like to buy your services" said Gran.

"First off, the name is Axon, second why would a marine hire a bounty hunter, why not send some of your men to deal with it" said Axon.

"Unfortunately, this is not something I can bring to other Marines, also the person I'm sending you after is not someone the average grunt can deal with" said Gran.

"Okay, so you just want me to kill him, that's $50,000 berries plus whatever this guy's bounty is" said Axon.

"Actually, I want you to bring me to him alive, and this person doesn't have a bounty, but if you take the job, I can pay you $3,000,000 beri. So will you take the job?" asked Gran.

Axon sat in his chair with a wide grin on his face.

"Just point me in the right direction" said Axon.

"Good, then start making your way to Louge Town" said Gran as he tossed half of the 3,000,000 beri and an envelope to Axon.

"If I didn't know any better I say I wasn't the first assassin you've paid before" said Axon.

"I know how things work, half now half when the job is done, inside that envelop is everything you need to know about your target, I suggest you hurry or you might miss them" said Gran.

"Yeah yeah" said Axon.

Axon then made his way out of the office and back to his boat; on the way out he stopped by a room full of weapons.

"I'm picking up my rifle" said Axon.

The marine working in the room handed Axon a rifle with silver plating and the name Winchester written on the side in Gold.

"Looks like we got ourselves a big fish this time partner" said Axon.

"What was that sir?" said the marine.

Axon looked back.

"I wasn't talking to you" said Axon. Axon then set sail toward his next target.

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><p><strong>AN**: **Hey everyone, I know it's been awhile since my last update, and I apologize for that but things got weird so I had to take care of some things, but now I'm back and things will get back to normal. Now hope you enjoyed this chapter and the little chunk at the end. Now the next few chapters will be somewhat short since they will be following the adventures of the Typhoon pirates while in Louge Town.**

**I would like to thank The Imposter for his character: Fred Johnson**

**And Reven228 for His character: Axon Wright.**

**So as usual if you liked this chapter leave a review and if you really liked this chapter then head over to the forum where you can discuss the story and submit any OCs you may want to appear in the story.**

**** myforums/Raverns/5899739/****

**Now until next time guys and gals look out for the next chapter, stay awesome everyone.**

* * *

><p><strong>In the next chapter of One Piece: The Next Story- The pirates finally arrive in Louge town and set out to take care of some last minute business before heading into the Grand Line. What awaits our heroes in the central hub of all pirates in East Blue?! Check out chapter 24 to find out.<strong>

**Chapter 24: Louge Town Stories!**


	24. Chapter 24:The Long Day in Louge Town!

**Chapter 24: The Long Day in Louge Town! - Part 1 Connie and the Orphans**

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><p><strong>Last time on One Piece: The Next Story- After sending off their new acquaintance Fred, and finally giving their ship a much needed name, the Typhoon pirates are now docking in Louge Town where they will prepare for their travels in the Grand Line.<strong>

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><p>The sea surrounding Louge Town were as calm as any sea the crew had ever sailed on, it almost seemed like a good omen of how their time on Louge Town would be. The sun glistened off of roofs of the three story interlocking, white and brown buildings that towered over the citizens walking the town's wide streets.<p>

The Bandit was docked into the south harbor of the town, as the Typhoon pirates disembarked off the ship, Connie handed each of them a small pouch.

"Okay here you go" said Connie.

"What's this?" asked Kal.

"It's your allowance for while we're on the island, each one holds exactly $2,000 berries, except for Franklin's which has twice that for the medical supplies, and that's all you're getting so don't waste it" said Connie.

Maze looked at his pouch for a second with a puzzled look on his face, before he looked back at Connie.

"Connie, I'm pretty sure there was at least $300,000 left beri when I counted it yesterday, can't we get some more to spend?" said Maze.

"No, you can't, we're gonna need that money for when we're in the Grand Line. We don't know what kind of things we might need while there and we haven't gotten any of the things I know we need, not to mention we'll have to repair the Bandit at some point, and at the moment we have no influx of cash coming our way, so this money is going to have to last us a while, got it" said Connie in a stern voice.

"Yes ma'am" said Maze, Kal, and Franklin.

The three of them all went down different streets, to buy anything they might need in the Grand Line. As soon as all three of them were out of sight Connie quickly ran back into the Bandit and carried out a small wagon that seemed to be made out of peppermint candy, with a large bag roughly 5 x the size of the guys' pouches inside of it.

"Hehe" laughed Connie as she too went to do her shopping.

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><p><strong>Thirty minutes later-<strong>

Connie walked down a busy street filled with tons of people all of which were carrying assorted bags filled with Louge Town rarities and clothes. She was on the lookout for a map store, so she could buy a map of the Grand Line and with any hope, purchase a piece of much needed piece of equipment that they are sorely lacking, a log pose, if they are going to find their way around the Grand Line they were going to need one.

As Connie walked a little farther up the street she came up to two buildings connected to each other, creating a dead end. The building to the right was painted a solid brown and had a sign attached to the door with a picture of a globe painted onto it. This was obviously the navigation shop that Connie had been looking for, but at the moment all of Connie's attention was focused on the building to left.

It was painted a bright sparkling pink and on the buildings wall was a large sign that read "Oolong's Candy shop" in bright red and white striped letters. Connie was unable to take her eyes off of the candy store. She was entranced by the mouth watering different types of sweets that were being showed off in the stores front window. She slowly walked up to the shop, getting closer and closer to the door, until a small thought popped into her head.

"Maybe I should go to the navigation shop first?" thought Connie.

Connie mulled on this thought for a few seconds before ultimately coming to her carefully chosen decision.

"Na, I'm sure it will be fine" thought Connie.

Connie then walked happily into the store, her wagon trailing behind her.

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><p><strong>One hour later-<strong>

Connie walked out of the candy shop with her wagon filled with a bunch of bags filled to the brim with candy, and a money bag that was now 1/3 lighter. She was no heading over to the navigation store to get the map of the Grand Line and a log pose. When she entered the store she saw all of the maps hanging on the walls and shelves of nautical books that lined the shop. Connie couldn't help but feel nostalgic from the sight that reminded her so much of the little shop where she spent most of her life.

When Connie got up to the store's counter she saw a young man with shaggy brown hair reading a book and sitting comfortably on a wooden stool.

"Excuse me" said Connie.

The store clerk completely ignored her and continued to read his book as if no one was there.

"Excuse me" said Connie again in another attempt to get the clerks attention.

This time instead of completely ignoring her, he swatted his hand in the air as if telling her to bug off the whole while never taking his eyes off of his book. This act of complete disrespect did not sit well with Connie, and she made that very clear with her next words.

"HEY YOU BASTARD" said Connie as she socked the disrespectful clerk square in the jaw.

"Oww, what the hell is your problem lady?!" said the clerk.

"Oh I don't know, maybe it's being ignored by a store employee when I'm trying to buy something from his store" said Connie.

"Fine what do you want?" asked the clerk.

Connie took a deep breath and calmed herself down.

"I need a map of the Grand Line and a log pose" said Connie.

The store clerk had a worried look on his face as if he was afraid to say something, which Connie noticed.

"What?" said Connie?

"Promise you won't hit me again first" said the clerk worryingly.

"Tell me first and then I'll decide" said Connie as she was starting to get back into her bad mood.

"Well, we have plenty of Grand Line maps, but I just sold our last log pose ten minutes ago, and we won't be getting anymore for at least a month" said the clerk.

"Are you freaking kidding me, crap!" yelled Connie.

She had just realized that if she hadn't stopped to buy the candy then she could have gotten there in time to acquire the loge pose.

"Who did you sell it to?" asked Connie in a threatening manner.

"A… a couple of kids who live in the orphanage up the street" said the clerk cautiously.

"Kids, you sold a delicate piece of navigation equipment to some kids" said Connie now entirely irritated.

"They had cash, and they wouldn't stop bugging me until I sold it to them" said the clerk.

It took everything in Connie's being not to smack the clerk in the head with her candy hammer, but she knew it wasn't the time for that.

"You said orphanage was up the street right, what does it look like?" asked Connie.

* * *

><p><strong>A few minutes later-<strong>

Connie followed the store clerks' directions and found herself standing in front of what was undeniably the most dilapidated building she had ever seen.

The orphanage was made of black bricks that were chipped cracked all over and had vines rising up the wall, the door of the orphanage was in no better shape. It seemed to be hanging off of its hinges, as though the smallest nudge could knock it loose, but the worst sight was that of the orphanage's sign. It was broken into pieces and completed faded; you couldn't even make out the letters that were written on it.

Connie slowly walked up to the door and knocked, the way the house looked from the outside she found it hard to believe that people actually lived here, that was until a small sickly looking girl answered the door.

The girl was wearing tattered clothes and no shoes, her burgundy colored hair was a complete mess, and she looked as though she hadn't eaten a decent meal in weeks.

"Are you a bill collector" said the little girl in a weak voice.

Connie was taken aback by the young girls' appearance and words but she quickly steeled herself because she knew she had a job to get done.

"No, I'm not, I heard that a couple of kids here bought a log pose from the navigation shop down the street, I was wondering if I could buy it from you" said Connie in a sweet voice.

"No you can't" said a voice coming from inside the orphanage.

Almost immediately a group of ten children rushed to the front door and stood behind the young girl, except for a boy who was a bit taller than the rest of the children, they all wore similar clothing as the young girl, aside for a few hats and worn by the boys. The tall boy was wearing a pork pie hat and he small crescent shaped scar under his left eye.

"That log pose is ours, and we're gonna use it to leave this island and become pirates" said the tall boy.

"YEAH!" Said the rest of the children.

All of the kids a gleam in their eyes and you could tell that they were all serious about what they were saying. Connie felt bad that she was going to have to get the log pose from these kids but it had to be done if she and the crew were going to make it out in the Grand Line.

"Are you sure there is no way I can get you to give me that log pose, I can pay you double what you paid for it" said Connie.

"No way, get out of here lady" said the tall boy.

"Come on me and my crew really need that log pose, you kids won't even be able to use it until you're older anyway" said Connie almost pleading.

"Doesn't matter, like I said you can't have it and there is nothing you have we…" the boy was cut off when he felt the sickly looking girl from earlier pull on his sleeve.

"Brother, she has candy in that wagon, a lot of it can I have some?" asked the girl.

"Sis, we can't, we promised we wouldn't steal anymore after we got enough for the log pose" said the boy tenderly.

The young girl had a look of defeat on her face, which almost broke Connie's heart while at the same time gave her an idea.

"What if I give you guys all the candy I have, and the wagon which is also made of candy, although I would suggest washing first" said Connie.

"It's going to take a whole lot more than some candy to get us to give up the log pose" said the tall boy.

Connie just showed a confident smile.

"I thought you might say that" said Connie.

She walked down the steps of the orphanage and put her hands on to the outside wall. Almost instantly the walls of the orphanage became a bright red color the cracks were all gone, it was if they never existed, while the vines became bright pink, the door became dark black and was now firmly attached to the door frame.

The children came out to get a better look at what Connie had done; they were all shocked by what they were looking at. The walls of the building were, now made of lollipop candy, the door was a large bar of chocolate, and the vines were bubblegum.

Connie stood proud by what she had done.

"So is this enough for the log pose?" asked Connie.

"How did you do this?" asked the boy.

"Us adults have our secrets" said Connie happily.

The young girl from earlier walked up to Connie and pulled out the log pose from her back pocket.

"It's enough" said the girl.

She handed the log pose to Connie and flashed a big grin.

"Now the candy in the wagon you can eat as much as you want, but not the house. So long as you leave it, the next time it rains the candy will disappear, but it will still be completely fixed" said Connie.

The tall boy was the next to come up to Connie.

"Thanks for the orphanage, but don't think this means we will stop trying to be pirates" said the boy confidently.

Connie patted the boy on the head playfully.

"When did I ever say you shouldn't become pirates, us orphan pirates need to stick together after all" said Connie with a big smile on her face.

The rest of the kids carried the candy and the wagon into the orphanage. Connie made sure to grab her money and the map off of the wagon before they did though.

As the kids all went back into the orphanage Connie stopped at its sign and placed her hand on it. She fixed it up good as new, although now it was made of milk chocolate.

As she walked away, she couldn't help but fell thankful for Yelsin, the man who had taken care of her after her parents were killed, if he hadn't taken her in she would have ended up in a place just like that or worse, she hoped for the best for those kids, and that one day they might meet again on the seas of the Grand Line.

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><p><strong> AN- Well everyone I hoped you enjoyed the first part of a… soon to be decided part story, with these chapters I will dive more into the personalities of the Typhoon pirates which I haven't been able to do much. So I hope your looking forward to it, I know I am \(^3^)/.**

**So as usual if you liked this chapter leave a review and if you really liked this chapter then head over to the forum where you can discuss the story and submit any OCs you may want to appear in the story.**

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**Now until next time guys and gals look out for the next chapter, stay awesome everyone.**

* * *

><p><strong>Next time on One Piece: The Next Story- With Connie's story wrapped up and the log pose secured, we will be heading out with Kal as he to looks for a much needed piece of equipment, a new sword. What kind of tribulations will he face in his search for a new weapon, check out the next chapter to find out.<strong>

**Chapter 25: The Long Day in Louge Town- Part 2 Kal and the Arms Shop**


	25. Chapter 25:The Long Day in Louge Town 2

**Chapter 25: The Long Day in Louge Town! - part 2 Kal and the Arms Shop**

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><p><strong>Last time on One Piece: The Next Story- After arriving in Louge Town, the crew split up in order to do some last minute shopping for their journey into the Grand Line. While out in search of a log pose, Connie got distracted by her biggest weakness, candy, causing her to have to trade all her newly acquired candy to a bunch of kids who dreamed of becoming pirates, but that wasn't enough for them, so after a little candy reconstruction, Connie was able to convince the kids to hand over the log pose. Now we are going to see how Kal spent his time in Louge Town.<strong>

* * *

><p><strong>South Louge Town<strong>

Kal walked the streets of Louge Town as he searched for a weapons shop to replace the sword he lost while in Vertain. As he walked he couldn't help the subtle decline that appeared the farther he went down the street he was on. The buildings went from being towering symbols of the town and its long history and instead became rundown reminders that in every major city there was a rich and a poor side.

Kal also started to notice a change in the look of the town's people. Before they were all happy and well dressed, carrying bags from the many different stores and businesses that could be found around town. Now the people looked disheveled and depressed, as though they had all lived through long and difficult lives, and the longer that Kal walked the more evident this became.

Kal started to be watched by the people on the street, all of them seemed to be eyeing the bag of berries that was hanging from his waist, as Kal got his guard up, his focus was drawn to a group of rowdy people to the left of him.

"Hey, leave me alone" said a young red haired woman.

She was surrounded by a group of four men all of which stunk of cheap booze and were pushing around between them.

"Come on Sonia, all you have to do is promise to go drinking with us and we'll let you go" said one of the men who happened to be missing most of his teeth.

"I said no now let me go" said Sonia as she tried to push her way through the men.

The four drunkards were not giving Sonia an inch, every time she tried to get away, they would just push her back into the center of them.

"Come on Sonia, stop playing hard to get and just…"

The drunk man was cut off mid sentence as Kal's fist rammed into the side of his face knocking him back over twenty feet and causing him to lose consciousness.

The rest of the group was slow to react to their friend being knocked out, no doubt due to their obvious inebriation, but as soon as the noticed what had happened they took their attention off of Sonia, and placed it on Kal.

"Hey… WH...What …d...do you… think …you're doing?" said one of the men as if he was trying to figure out what he wanted to say.

Kal casually walked up to the drunks with a smug grin on his face.

"Well, I was looking for a shop, but I think I found something a bit more entertaining" said Kal with a cocky attitude.

The three men all charged at Kal with their arm flailing around. Kal side stepped the first of them and punched him in the side of his face, sending him flying into a pile of crates no to far away from them. As the two other buggers came rushing at Kal from different directions, Kal spun around slamming his right elbow into the face of the man behind him and then spinning in the opposite direction and nailing the last man square in his mouth with a well placed punch.

As the four dunks laid on the street unconscious, Kal turned his attention to Sonia who was looking in amazement of what she had just seen.

Sonia was a young woman in her late teens and was of average height and was wearing a sea green dress, along with her bright red hair she really stood out in a crowd.

"That was so cool, I've never seen someone take out four people as if it was nothing before, how did you do that?" said Sonia with excitement in her eyes.

"When, you spend a third of your life fighting the kind of people I do, guys like this don't really amount to much, it's like sending a tuna to deal with a shark, the ending is obvious" said Kal.

"Oh my God, you are so awesome, and I owe you, whatever you need just ask" said Sonia.

"Now that you mention it, you wouldn't happen to know where I could get a sword do you?" asked Kal.

A big smile beamed on Sonia's face as she grabbed Kal's hand and started pulling him farther down the street.

"You have no idea how lucky you are to have met me" said Sonia.

* * *

><p><strong>At the end of the street-<strong>

Sonia had lead Kal to a small shop nestled between two other businesses, atop the shop's door were two over sized swords that were crossing each other and a sign that read "Arms shop". Kal walked into the store and was amazed by what he saw the shop was covered entirely in swords of all size and type; he had never seen so many swords gathered in one place before.

"My family owns this place, if you need a good sword there is no place better to come to in all of Louge town" said Sonia.

After seeing the shop for himself Kal couldn't disagree with her, he wasn't sure why, but he felt that this place was the perfect place to find his new sword.

As Kal looked around he finally noticed the small man that was sitting at the shop's counter.

He was a rather short and elderly man with short graying hair; he was we wearing a red kimono and a gray head band.

"Hey daddy" said Sonia to the old man.

"Hey sweetie, who's that guy next to you?" said the shop keeper in an inquisitive tone.

"This is Kal, and he saved me from a bunch of drunks up the street, so as thanks I'm helping him look for a sword" said Sonia.

"Oh a customer huh, so sonny, what can I get you" said the old man with a greedy look in his eyes.

"Let me see the best sword you have" said Kal happily.

The shop keeper had a wide grin on his face as he ran into the back of the store and brought out a single katana with a green wooden sheath that had gold spirals coating it and a black hilt.

"This is the best sword that I have, it's called Kame to usage, the blade was forged in intense heat, and was folded a total of three million times, to the point that it is by far the sharpest and swiftest blade I have ever seen, allow me to demonstrate" said the shop owner.

He took the blade out of its sheath and placed it into an empty one he had next to him.

As he put the sword into the sheath the bottom of the sheath developed a large vertical cut that went straight through the sheath the sword had cut through it by just being put in.

"Now that happens with every holder I've ever put it in, except this one" said the old man as he rose up the green and gold sheath.

"It's made of Adam Tree wood, the hardest and most durable wood in the world and it's been pressurized to add to its hardness, it can take almost any hit as if it were nothing" said Sonia.

"Well kid what do you think, is it perfect or what" said the shop owner.

"You have no idea, so how much is it?" asked Kal.

"Two million Beri" said the shop owner.

Kal stood there with a shocked look on his face.

"I don't have that much" said Kal.

"How much do you have?" asked the shop owner.

"Twenty thousand" said Kal.

"Are you kidding me, my cheapest sword is at least fifty thousand" said the owner.

"Well maybe I can…."

Kal was cut off by the drunk with missing teeth from earlier kicked open the door and waved around a gun.

"Hey, you long haired bastard remember me" said the man.

"Yeah, it was only five minutes ago" said Kal in an annoyed tone.

"Well, regardless now I'm gonna make you pay for embarrassing men" said the drunk.

He raised his gun and pointed it at Kal but due to the man's impaired state his hand moved a bit to the right and was now pointing at Sonia, his finger started to push down on the trigger. Kal's reflexes went into overdrive; he grabbed Kame to usagi, out of the shop keepers hand and entered his first stance.

Kal launched from his position from a diagonal path until he was in a straight path with the gunman and Sonia. The drunk fired his gun and just before the bullet reached Kal he drew his Usagi from Kame and not only was it the fastest slash he had ever preformed he was even able to cut straight through the bullet and cut down the drunk were he stood.

Kal stood over the man as he sheathed the blade, the whole time feeling as though the sword fit perfectly in his hand. The shop owner looked in awe of the skill that Kal had just demonstrated, he had never seen any swordsmen cut through a bullet before, but he was more impressed by the speed at which he had done it.

"Kid that was some of the greatest swordsmen ship I have ever seen, and the way you used Kame to usagi, it was if you had been using it all your life, and you saved my daughter in the process" said the shop owner as he walked toward Kal.

"That's the second time you've saved me today, you're gonna make me think you like me or something" said Sonia jokingly.

The shop owner took Kame to Usagi from Kal and held it up as he looked at it fondly.

"You know, my mother once told me a story about how father gave our best sword away for free to a young swordsmen with great skill and talent, and she told me that if I ever had the urge to do the same, TO KICK THAT PERSON OUT ON HIS ASS IMMEDIATELY, NOW GET OUT!" said the owner.

* * *

><p><strong>Outside of the arms shop-<strong>

Kal stood in disbelief of what had just happened, he had finally found his perfect sword and it was literally taken from him, so now he had to find another shop in a city that he didn't know how to get around in.

As Kal started to walk away he was heard a low psss sound coming from behind him. It was Sonia, and she was holding something behind her back.

"Sonia what are you doing" said Kal.

"My dad can be an ass, and he's not very good at saying thank you, but I am" said Sonia.

She pulled Kame to Usagi from behind her back and handed it Kal.

"But your dad said…"

"You saved my twice today, this is the least I can do for you, and I can handle my dad so just take the sword, besides I feel like it's supposed to be with you" said Sonia.

Kal took Kame to Usagi and strapped it to his waist.

"Thank you Sonia, I'll never forget this" said Kal.

"You better not" said Sonia as she walked back into the shop.

Kal was reveling in his acquisition of his new sword as he started walking back to the Bandit.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Hoped you all enjoyed this chapter, I wanted to get across that Kal is kind of cocky and always thinks he can take on any challenger, which he usually can. Now for a little translation **

**Kame to Usagi = Tortoise and Hare**

**I thought it fit but that's just me.**

**So as usual if you liked this chapter leave a review and if you really liked this chapter then head over to the forum where you can discuss the story and submit any OCs you may want to appear in the story.**

**** myforums/Raverns/5899739/****

**Now until next time guys and gals look out for the next chapter, stay awesome everyone.**

* * *

><p><strong>Next time on One Piece: The Next Story- next we will follow Franklin's travels through Louge Town, as he meets some friendly people, and an old acquaintance, how will seeing a face from his past affect his already fragile state of mind check out the next chapter to find out.<strong>

**Chapter 25: The Long Day in Louge Town! – part 3 Franklin and Cooper**


	26. Chapter 26:The Long Day in Louge Town! 3

**Chapter 26: The Long Day in Louge Town! – Part 3 Franklin and Cooper**

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><p><strong>Previously on One Piece: The Next Story-Kal had been in a search for a new sword, after rescuing a young women by the name of Sonia, he was lead to her family's arms shop where after dealing with one of Sonia's would be attackers he was given<strong> **Kame to Usagi** **and he is now heading back to the ship to meet up with his friends and crew mates, who have their own stories to tell. Well, all with the exception of one who would prefer to keep his exploits to himself.**

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><p><strong>East Louge Town-<strong>

Franklin was in a very good mood, he had not only gotten all of the medical supplies he needed, but he had also had enough money left over for a new doctor's black bag and to stop at a small café he had happened upon. Franklin sat down at a small circular table underneath a large parasol. The café was painted a calming powder blue and had white trimmings coating the outside of the door frame and windows. The staff was dressed in butler and maid uniforms, and seemed happy to be wearing them.

Franklin was drinking from a small cup filled with chamomile tea, he couldn't remember the last time he had felt more at ease. As Franklin was finishing up his tea, he was approached by two of the café's employees.

One was a scrawny man in his mid thirties with a crooked nose and shaggy mop of brown hair. The other one was a rather large woman who seemed to barley fit in her maid uniform and a confusing scowl on her face.

"Hello sir, my name is Stoll and this is my co worker Roberta, we don't mean to bother you, but we couldn't help but notice that bag of medical supplies to your side you wouldn't happen to be a doctor would you?" asked Stoll.

"I am actually, how can I help you" said Franklin calmly.

"Neither of us is in need of your help doc, it's our friend Coop, he hasn't been feeling well, we were hoping you could check him out for us, we'd be willing to pay for your services" said Roberta.

Franklin finished his tea, stood up from his seat and picked up his bag.

"Take me to the patient" said Franklin happily.

* * *

><p><strong>South Louge Town-<strong>

Stool and Roberta lead Franklin to an abandoned building in the south section of Louge Town, the windows was boarded up and an eviction notice hanged from the door front door. As Franklin looked at where his patient supposedly was, he couldn't help but feel a bit of unease.

"Come on doc he's right inside" said Roberta as she walked through the door.

Franklin followed the maid and butler into the building the whole time keeping his guard up, which he soon realized was the right call, as he made his way through the house he spied many shady looking characters clogging the halls of the house. Franklin was lead into the room in the far back of the house.

In the room was a single mattress lying on the ground, on the bed was a man with a wash cloth laid over his face.

"This is our friend Coop, he's had a fever for the past two weeks, we've been using cold wash cloths to keep his fever down but it doesn't work and he just keeps getting hotter and hotter" said Stoll.

Franklin stood over Coop and pulled out a stethoscope from his bag and checked his pulse and heart.

"Hmm, have there been any other symptoms besides the fever?" asked Franklin.

"No" said Stool.

"Good, this should be an easy fix then" said Franklin.

Franklin pulled out a syringe and a small brown bottle from his bag, and then placed the needle of the syringe into the bottle until it was filled with a clear liquid. He then injected the liquid into Coop's arm.

"Well that should do it he will be better in a little while, lucky for him it was just a case of fire flu, now I will have to examine him when he wakes up so I will stay here for a little while longer" said Franklin.

Just then Coop shot up from the bed as soon as he did the wash cloth fell off of his face, revealing a man in his late forties with dirty blonde hair and a large scar covering his left eye. He was breathing heavy and was drenched in sweat.

Everyone in the room had big smiles on their faces, all but Franklin. He stuck in a state of shock; never in a million years did he think the Coop he was helping was someone he knew.

Coop's full name was Captain Cooper Hallowell; he was a Marine captain from Franklin's past. He was known for taking bribes from various pirates and organizations to look the other way and keep other marines off of their backs. The last Franklin had heard of him he had been stripped of his title and kicked out of the marines, he would have been sent to Impel Down or the Crucible but he had some pull left with the then Fleet Admiral and was able to avoid prison time.

Now that same man was sitting right in front of him. Franklin decided that he needed to get out of the house as fast as he could before Coop realized who he was, but it was already too late.

Coop looked around the room to see all of the smiling faces of his many friends; he was then caught off guard by the man right in front of him carrying a medical bag.

"Victor?" said Coop.

Franklin simply smiled.

"I'm afraid you have me mixed up with someone else sir, my name is Franklin, not Victor" said Franklin.

"No, it's you Victor, I would never forget the face of the man that removed one of my livers" said Coop as he rose up his shirt to show a scar on the left side of his abdomen.

Franklin had a scowl on his face, of all people to have seen him why did it have to be this man.

"Now I have a question for you Vick. How are you alive, and don't say you're not Victor again, I was at the funeral I saw the body or at least what was left of it, although I guess I should say funerals, they did bury what was left of you and your team in the same casket after all" said Coop with a smirk.

Although he didn't show it Franklin was in raged by what Coop had just said, but he knew he had to leave from there before it got any worse.

"Well you seem fine, I think I'll take my leave now" said Franklin completely avoiding Coop's question.

Just as Franklin was making his way out of the house, he was stopped by a large muscular man in rags.

"Now Vick, no reason to leave so quick, you're a fan of tea right? It's the least I can do to thank you for fixing me, Roberta, get me and our guest here a cup if you wouldn't mind" said Coop.

Roberta scooted into another room and in a few minutes came out with two cups in one hand and a tea pot in the other, she filled both cups and she handed one to Coop and the other to Franklin. Franklin took the tea but showed no signs of drinking it.

"Oh come on Vick, do you think I poisoned it or something, here just watch" said Coop as he drank from his own cup.

Coop finished the whole cup in one gulp, which made Franklin believe there was nothing wrong with the tea. Franklin drank his tea as fast as he could in order to leave the house.

After Franklin had finished his cup he noticed Coop had a wide grin on his face, and then Franklin felt woozy. Everything around him became fuzzy and he started to lose control of his muscles until he finally collapsed on the floor.

Coop walked over and stood over him.

"Hey Victor old boy, I said the tea wasn't poisoned, I never said anything about the cup" said Coop with a wide and evil smile.

That was the last thing Franklin heard before he passed out.

* * *

><p><strong>A few hours later-<strong>

Franklin woke up on the floor of the house still a bit dizzy from the poison he was given. As he looked a room he noticed it was completely empty, and that his medical bag and all of his supplies were gone, no doubt stolen by Coop, to sell or use for nefarious reasons.

As he got himself up from the ground, for the second time that day Franklin was put into a state of shock, not by what he was seeing but by what he wasn't. Both of his gloves had been removed from his hands, revealing small stitches all over them.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" screamed Franklin.

He punched repeatedly at the walls of the house until they started to collapse from the onslaught. He then pulled out Shikama, almost out of nowhere and started slicing at everything in his sight. By the time Franklin finally exited the house there was nothing left of it but a pile of rubble.

In the rubble was a small piece of paper with landmarks on it, as Franklin picked it up he was sure this would lead him to where Copper was.

"COOPER! I'M GOING TO FIND YOU!" screamed Franklin in a rage.

* * *

><p><strong>An abandoned underground warehouse-<strong>

Coop and his people were laying low in one of his hideouts, it was an underground warehouse that was used for storing his bribes back in his Marine days, and it was filled with gold and trinkets from his years of corruption, along with a newly acquired medical bag. The layout of the warehouse was like a maze; if you weren't careful you could easily get lost, and since the sun didn't reach down there the only source of light were the many spotlights that were lined around the facility.

"Man boss I can't believe you tricked that guy like that, cold blooded" said Stoll.

"Well it's his own fault for trusting me in the first place" said Coop smugly.

"Still think you should have killed him boss" said the large man from earlier.

"No point to, he was a medic not a soldier, what could he do to us anyway" said Coop.

Just then all of the spotlights in the warehouse went out all at once.

"What the hell?" said Roberta?

"Hey which one you switched off the lights" said Stoll to the group of people all over the room.

Coop was not happy about being in the dark.

"Hey Lug, go see what happened to the lights" said Coop.

"Right boss" said the large man.

Lug walked out of the room and into the one of the many hallways of the facilities, he walked along the wall to make sure he didn't get lost in the darkness. When he got to power room he bent over and squint his eyes to see that the main electrical cord had been unplugged. As he bent over to plug it back in he didn't notice the shadowy figure walking up behind him.

Back in the main room Coop and the rest of his people were feeling uncomfortable in the pitch black room.

"Hey will someone go and check on what's keeping Lug?" said Coop.

"I'll go Coop, your three come with me" said Stoll to a few of the other people in the room.

When Stoll arrived in the electrical room he couldn't help but notice that Lug was nowhere to be seen.

"Stupid idiot probably got lost again" said Stoll.

Stoll also saw that the cord was unplugged and quickly plugged it back in, as soon as he did the lights came back on.

As Stoll walked out of the room he slipped on something the floor "Ahh" said Stoll as he fell to the ground.

Stoll had fell into some kind of sticky substance, as he got a better look at it he noticed what it was.

"Blood!" screamed Stoll.

He fumbled around a bit as he tried to get back on his feet, when he finally did he saw where the blood had come from. Lug was dangling from the rafters, his neck cut clean through; his head was hanging on by a small bit of skin that was left connected to the rest of him.

As Stoll tried to get out of the room he was stopped by the next sight he saw, all three of the men he had come with were standing as still as statues, their eyes all fixed onto something behind him, Stoll didn't even have time to turn around before he was cut in half at the waist, his blood pooling together with Lug's.

All but one of the men were frozen in fear, the one that wasn't ran as fast as he could out of the room and back to where the others were, he could hear the dying screams of his two friends as he ran away to safety, but right before he passed through the entrance of the main room his head was looped off with a single swipe. His head rolled into the main room with a look of relief etched on his face.

All who were left in the room, screamed in horror from the sight they were seeing, but they were soon taken even more aback by what they saw right after. It was Franklin covered head to toe in blood his scythe in hand, with the blood of the freshly beheaded man dripping from the edge.

"What the hell?!" said Coop in complete confusion and anger.

Roberta quickly pulled out a small gun from her waist and pointed it at Franklin, but before she could pull the trigger, Franklin threw his scythe at her and the blade imbedded into her forehead, she then crumpled to the ground with a loud thump.

Franklin calmly walked over to Roberta's body and pulled out his scythe from her head. He then began walking over to where Coop was quacking in fear.

"Victor, you don't have to do this man, look I'll give you back your stuff okay" said Coop as he held out Franklin's medical bag and gloves.

But that didn't stop Franklin from walking toward him.

"Okay I get it, you want "that" back right, you can have it I didn't even want it" said Coop.

Coop then rummaged through his pockets until he pulled out a small gold ring with an inscription that was hard to make out.

"This is what you wanted right, here take it" said Coop as he handed the ring to Franklin.

As soon as the ring was in his hand, Franklin chopped off Coop's.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHH" screamed Coop as he grabbed the bloody stump that was once his hand.

"I'm sorry Cooper, but you really shouldn't touch things that aren't yours" said Franklin in a cold tone but playful tone.

The screams of all of the people in the warehouse echoed through the halls as Franklin cut all of them to pieces, the whole time keeping Coop alive to watch every second of it. He made sure to keep him for last so that he could feel complete despair.

As the last of Coop's men was slain, Franklin once again walked up to Coop and gave a small smile. He then cut off his legs and his other hand; his blood began to pour out of him like a fountain.

"Why, didn't you just kill me" said Coop with the last of his strength.

"Because my dear Cooper, I want you to spend the last few minutes of you have before you completely bleed out, thinking about what you had done and why you deserve this" said Franklin.

Cooper just stared with a blank stare as his life literally drained out him.

"Goodbye Cooper" said Franklin as he picked up his medical bag and gloves from next to Copper's legs, and walked out of the facility.

As he walked back into the sun Franklin pulled out a bottle of water and some medical gauss to wipe off the blood from his person, as he did he placed his ring onto his right ring finger and read the inscription to himself.

"To my beloved Elizabeth, shall we never be separated, not even in death" read Franklin.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Well everyone here's chapter 26 I hope you enjoyed Franklin's killing spree and a little look into his back story. I thought I do a kinda scary story since this will be released around Halloween, and I gotta say I really enjoyed writing this one, I love horror stories, especially the ones where the bad guys are the ones that get it in the end muhahahaha.**

**So as usual if you liked this chapter leave a review and if you really liked this chapter then head over to the forum where you can discuss the story and submit any OCs you may want to appear in the story.**

** myforums/Raverns/5899739/**

**Now until next time guys and gals look out for the next chapter, stay awesome everyone and of course a Happy Halloween from me to you .**

* * *

><p><strong>Next time on One Piece: The Next Story- we follow Maze as he makes his way to the most iconic spot in all of Louge town, I think we all know what I'm talking about, what kind of adventure will he find himself in on the way there you're going to have to check out the next chapter to find out.<strong>

**Chapter 27: The Long Day in Louge Town! – part 4 Maze and the Gallows**


	27. Chapter 27: The Long Day in Louge Town 4

**Chapter 27: The Long Day in Louge Town! – part 4 Maze and the Gallows**

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><p><strong>Previously on One Piece: The Next Story- Franklin had run into a face from his past that he had rather not seen, after being approached by a couple of café employees to help their ailing friend, Franklin discovered that their friend was in fact a disgraced Marine Captain who knew him from the past, after being drugged and robbed of a few of his belongings, Franklin want into a rampage and took it on himself to get back what was taken from him and do away with the thieves. Now we take a look at what Maze was up to during that time.<strong>

* * *

><p><strong>One of the many crowded streets of Louge Town-<strong>

Maze was walking though the city with a confused look on his face, he seemed to be looking for something but had gotten lost in the process, as he turned in a full circle he tried to find something that looked even slightly familiar so as to better figure out his location. After that failed Maze decided to just ask for directions.

Maze walked toward a man that was about to walk past him.

"Excuse me sir…" said Maze.

The man completely ignored Maze and just kept walking.

Maze tried to ask a woman that was passing by him.

"Pardon me miss…" said Maze.

Once again Maze was ignored.

Maze tried this a few more times until he was finally fed up with being ignored.

When the next person he asked ignored him, Maze snapped.

Maze grabbed the man by the back of his shirt and turned him around, Maze then buffed his arms and lifted him up into the air, this caught the attention of the other people around him, but Maze was too annoyed to notice.

"Now I'm only going to ask you this once. Which way is it to the Gallows?" asked Maze in an aggravated tone.

The man looked terrified as the situation unfolded.

"I…it's… a f…few…b…blocks…that…way" said the man.

He pointed to rather Empty Street that seemed to lead to the center of the town. Maze then put the man down and reverted his arms back to their original state.

"Thank you very much" said Maze with a smile.

Maze ran as fast as he could down the designated road until he found himself in the shadow of a large wooden structure. It was a wooden scaffolding with four legs and a large square above it. Maze knew there was no mistake; this is what he was looking for, the place where the first great Pirate Age began, the place where the first Pirate King took his last breath. As Maze got closer to it he couldn't help but feel a sense of awe. This was where so many pirates decided to follow the path that was opened by Gold Rodger, to set sail in the hopes of making names for themselves, and now he stands here with the same dream in his heart.

"A grand sight isn't it" said a man standing next to Maze.

The man was around 5'8, he had an oblong face yellow hair and blue eyes, and he was wearing a dark-blue polo shirt, khakis, and black dress shoes, covering his clothes was a large white coat with silver epaulets.

"The place where the valiant Marines rid this world of the plague that was Gold Rodger, oh what I wouldn't give to had been alive at that time, but with any luck I will long enough to see the end of the second Pirate king, or at the very least anyone foolish enough to try and become the third, I can't stand pirates, I wish HQ would just let us round them all up and execute them on spot" said the man.

Maze had never felt more uncomfortable in his life.

"Ok, well I'm gonna go" said Maze as he started making his escape.

The man then grabbed Maze by his shoulder; he had an unnaturally strong grip.

"Now don't let me scare you off, every person should see this sight, and see just how great the Marines are" said the man.

"I take it you're a Marine" said Maze.

"Aren't you a sharp one, Rear-Admiral Lucas Richeson is the name, and yours" said the marine.

Maze knew he had to be cautious, regardless of how important Louge Town is to pirates it was still a Marine town and letting a pirate hating Marine know who he really was would only bring trouble.

"I'm Maze" said Maze.

"Well Maze, what brings you to Louge Town?" asked Lucas.

"Just passing by on my way home" said Maze.

"Oh, where are you from"

"Saba… I mean Shell Island" said Maze after a suspicious pause.

"Shell Island huh, sounds very pleasant" said Lucas with a warm smile.

"Well like I was saying, I should probably be on my way" said Maze.

"Nonsense, it's not every day you find yourself in a town as cultured as Louge Town, come have lunch with me" said Lucas.

"I don't know" said Maze.

"I insist, come on" said Lucas as he lead the way to a busy restaurant.

* * *

><p><strong>At a nearby Restaurant-<strong>

As Maze ate he food he couldn't help but notice that every single person in there beside himself was a Marine.

Maze was wrong earlier, this was the most uncomfortable moment in his life. He was literally in the heart of a bunch of marines, and he was all alone, and whenever he tried to get away, Lucas would insist he stay a little longer. He needed a way out and he needed it now.

Just then a bunch of Den-den Mushi started going off all over the restaurant. With all of them going off at once Maze could clearly hear the important news that was being announced.

"All Marines be on the lookout for pirate crew that is currently on the island, at present they have caused twelve orphans to go into deep sugar comas, stolen a sword priced at over $30,000,000 Berries, and just an hour ago one of them was seen exiting a warehouse where over twenty bodies were found killed and mutilated, one of which was a former Marine Captain, their description are as follows, a young women with bright pink hair wearing a black jacket, dark pink shirt and denim shorts, a young man with long gray hair wearing a white shirt with a blue strip going along the side, and the one from the warehouse is a young man with short black hair wearing all black and a button down shirt " said the Den-den Mushi.

As Maze heard what the Den-den Mushi said he couldn't help but feel a sense of extreme danger for himself and his crew, he had to get out of the restaurant, find his crew and get out of Louge town as fast as he could.

"Maze I am afraid I must leave you now, it would seem some nefarious pirates have come to town" said Lucas.

"Of course, I should be leaving anyway, well, see ya" said Maze as he made his way for the exit.

But right before he was through the door something very unfortunate happened.

"Last bit of information; it would seem a fourth member was seen with the other three culprits, he is a young man with short spiky black hair, wearing a black shirt, blue cargo shorts and a green vest" said the Den-den Mushi.

Maze could feel the stare of over thirty Marines on his back; it was at this point that Maze decided it was all or nothing. He quickly buffed his legs and entered a squatting position.

"Muscle Rush" said Maze as he bashed through the wall of the restaurant.

The marines quickly followed after him, but there was no way they could keep up with his speed when his legs were buffed, or so he thought. As Maze was gaining some distance from the rest of the Marines he noticed one was keeping up with him as though it was nothing. It was Lucas and he had a look of pure rage on his face.

As he came to Maze's side he snapped his fingers.

"Sound Sound: Short Hit".

As he said that a loud sound wave was produced and Maze felt a debilitating pain in his ear, this caused him to stop in his tracks, he fell to the ground and hugged his head, the pain in his ear was not stopping no matter what he did.

"I'm disappointed in you Maze, I was hoping to induct you into the Marines but it turns out you're a dirty pirate, restrain him with the sea-stone cuffs, we don't want him doing that growing thing of his again and then take him to the gallows, we're going to make an example of him to the rest of the pirates hiding on my island" said Lucas with hate in his voice.

* * *

><p><strong>The top of the Gallows-<strong>

Maze was shackled at the top of the Gallows as two marines stood at either side of him; both of them were wielding a saber that was hanging from their waists. As Maze looked out in front of him he saw a group of people starting to gather around the Gallows and multiple Marines covering the exits.

As soon as a rather large group of people had gathered Lucas stepped in front of Maze and began to talk to the masses.

"People of Louge Town, I am Rear-Admiral Lucas Richeson, and I called you all hear to witness an event you all should see. This man here is a detestable pirate whose crew, in just a short amount of time, has disturbed the peace of our great city. As many of you know I have grew up in this town and in my time as captain of the Marine base here have never let a single pirate crew leave this town. It pains me to see that my replacement has not been able to keep that same level of work when I left, but now I will make things right and rid Louge Town of the infection that is pirates!" yelled Lucas.

The crowd roared in excitement. Maze could feel his time on this dwindling away as the two marines raised their swords. If he were to survive this he would need a miracle.

"Now, finish him" said Lucas.

As the swords came down toward his neck Maze heard two shots fire from behind him, the two sword wielding marines feel to the ground with a single bullet wound in their arms.

Before Maze knew what was going on another shot was fired and this time it was aimed at the lock on his restraints, Maze took this opportunity to free himself and get as far away from there as possible. Just as he did when he was in the restaurant Maze buffed his legs but this time instead of running forward he jumped over to one of the nearby buildings. Maze looked back to see Lucas preparing to use his sound power again but was stopped when a bullet was shot into his leg.

"Maze get back here!" yelled Lucas as Maze made his escape.

* * *

><p><strong>As far away as possible from the Gallows-<strong>

After escaping from the Marines, Maze finally found time to catch his breath. As he stood there at the top of some unknown roof, he couldn't help but wonder who it was that had saved him, but he knew he would probably never know.

"That was pretty impressive, that whole giant leg thing you used" said a voice behind Maze.

Maze quickly turned around to see a tall young man with shaggy purple hair that covered his right eye; he was wearing a long sleeved white shirt with a sleeveless purple jacket on top of it, a pair of brown pants with a pair of boots. He was leaning on a rifle with silver plating and the word Winchester written in gold.

"Who are you?" asked Maze while getting to fight if needed.

"Oh, come on put your hands down, is that any way to greet the person that just saved your life" said the man with the gun.

Maze cautiously put his fists down.

"You saved me?" asked Maze.

"Yup" said the gunmen.

"Why?" asked Maze?

"Because if they kill you I don't get paid" said the gunmen.

In one swift motion the gunmen raised his gun and fired it at Maze. Maze swayed to the side and was only grazed by the bullet. As Maze was about to counter-attack he started to feel woozy, soon after he fell to his knees.

"You know the thing about paralysis shots all they have to do is make contact in order to work, although the results aren't as good, but any way hello Maze my name is Axon and I'll be turning you over to captain Gran today" said Axon.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: and on that note we end the chapter, sorry about taking last week off guys life came up, but any way I hope you guys like this chapter, it's the setup for what I believe will be a great series of chapters coming soon. If I don't succumb to the freezing air of the east coast first, I kid. **

**I would like to thank Magnumopus1 for creating Lucas Richeson who I belive will become a great part of the story from this point on. **

**So as usual if you liked this chapter leave a review and if you really liked this chapter then head over to the forum where you can discuss the story and submit any OCs you may want to appear in the story.**

** myforums/Raverns/5899739/ **

**Now until next time guys and gals look out for the next chapter, and as always stay awesome everyone!**

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><p><strong>Next time on One Piece: The Next Story- with the Marines on the lookout for our heroes will they be able to leave Louge town in one piece(no pun intended) and what about Maze how will he escape Axon and get back to his crew before the marines close in on them. Check out the next chapter to find out.<strong>


	28. Chapter 28: The Last Day of Louge Town 1

**Chapter 28: The Last Day of Louge Town! - Part 1 Find the Pirates!**

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><p><strong>Previously on One Piece: The Next Story- After arriving in Louge Town Maze couldn't wait to check out the Gallows. After getting some directions he found himself at what could be called the birth place of the age of pirates, where he meet a rather friendly Marine by the name of Lucas. Maze was then forced to have a meal with Lucas in a marine filled restaurant, where he heard a broadcast stating that the marines were on the lookout for Kal and the others. Upon hearing this Maze knew he had to get his crew out of the city as quickly as he could, but before he could the leave the restaurant he was also described in the marine announcement afterward he was taken to the gallows to be executed but was saved last minute by a young man by the name of Axon who turned out to be working for Captain Gran. Now he has Maze as a hostage and plans to take him in for his reward.<strong>

* * *

><p><strong>Louge Town Marine outpost-<strong>

A young Marine Captain was sitting at his desk sipping on from a small cup of tea, he was wearing a white coat and marine cap, he had a few papers neatly organized pile, he seemed to be in a state of pure relaxation, at least until Lucas came charging into his office with a look of pure anger on his face.

"WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING MARINE!" yelled Lucas?

This caused the young captain to fall over in his chair and spill what was left on his tea on himself.

"Ah… Rear Admiral Richeson, what brings you here?" said the captain warily.

"Well grunt, I just thought it was weird that you were in here relaxing when there are pirates running around the town causing chaos!" yelled Lucas.

"Um… sir, the reports were just given a little while ago and besides their just a bunch of no names I don't think their capture requires my personal involvement and also sir I'm a captain not a grunt" said the Captain.

"Firstly I don't care if their no names or Yonku, their presence on this island is inexcusable so every marine in the city should be hunting them down and that includes you, and by the by the reason I called you a grunt is because if all four of those pirates aren't caught within the next two hours that is going to be your new rank, DID I MAKE MYSELF CLEAR MARINE" shouted Lucas.

"Crystal sir" the young Marine saluted Lucas and ran out of his office as fast as he could.

Lucas then walked over to the city's intercom system and relayed a message to all the marines and civilians in ear shot.

"Attention all Marines, on this island of ours there are currently four of the most heinous kind of criminals on the loose, PIRATES. Now I want all of you to scour the city until you find every last one of them and they are all put to death, all civilians are advised to remain in their homes until the pirate threat has been fully eliminated, now GET TO WORK!"

* * *

><p><strong>A few minutes earlier-<strong>

Connie was walking up to the "Bandit", as she got closer she saw Kal standing against a nearby wall looking over what looked to be a new sword.

"Hey Kal" said Connie.

Kal was too entranced in his sword and didn't even notice Connie calling him.

"Kal" said Connie as she was only a few feet away from him.

"Hey are you listening" said Connie growing aggravated.

But it was to no avail, Kal was in his own world right now. So Connie decided to knock some sense into him.

"I SAID ARE YOU LISTENING" yelled Connie as she slammed her fist on to the top of his head.

Kal fell to the ground with a loud thud as he finally snapped back into reality.

"OWW!" bellowed Kal from the sudden blow.

"Now are you gonna pay attention to me" said Connie.

"What the hell, you didn't need to hit me so hard, why didn't you just say something?" said Kal.

"Are you serious, did you not hear..." said Connie

"Hello everyone" said Franklin as he appeared out of nowhere.

"Hey Franklin, you think you could check to see if I have a concussion, our navigator here just tried to kill me" said.

"Oh trust me if I wanted to kill you, you'd be dead you Sword baka" said Connie.

"Oh anytime candy fiend" said Kal in a confrontational tone.

Franklin quickly got in between them to stop the altercation.

"Now now no reason to start a war from a minor matter" said Franklin in hopes of diffusing the situation.

"She started it" said Kal.

"Oh real mature" said Connie.

"Come now what would the captain say if he heard you two squabbling like this" said Franklin.

It was at this moment that they all realized something wasn't right.

"Speaking of Maze, has anyone seen him?" said Connie.

"Now that you mention it, he said he wasn't buying anything so he should have been here by now" said Kal.

"I have a bad felling about this" said Franklin.

As if on cue a speech was made over the city's PA system

"Attention all Marines, on this island of ours there are currently four of the most heinous kind of criminals on the loose, PIRATES. Now I want all of you to scour the city until you find every last one of them and they are all put to death, all civilians are advised to remain in their homes until the pirate threat has been fully eliminated, now GET TO WORK!" said the man on the intercom.

"Oh this can't be good" said Kal.

"No it cannot" said Franklin in agreement.

"Okay we have got to get out of here now, you two head into the city and find Maze, I'll stay here and get the ship ready to sail out" said Connie in a hurry.

"Hey, last time I checked I was the First Mate not you, don't just give out orders" said Kal.

"We do not have time to argue about this and besides the last I checked, you two were slightly stronger than me, and I'm the only one here that can get the ship ready in time, so unless you have a better plan just go!" said Connie as she ran into the ship.

"UGH!" said Kal as he raced down the street to look for Franklin right behind him.

As Kal and Franklin searched the streets of Louge Town for their missing captain they made sure not to stay out of sight of any marines that might have been looking for them.

"Where the hell could he be" said Kal.

"I do not know but the fact that we haven't found him yet does not bode well for him being unharmed" said Franklin.

"Maze said he was going to check out the Gallows maybe here's around there hiding out until the coast is clear" said Kal.

"Then perhaps we should head there next at the very least we may find a clue as to where he has gone" said Franklin.

"Good idea, let's go" said Kal.

* * *

><p><strong>In front of the gallows-<strong>

Kal and Franklin soon arrived in front of the Gallows but there wasn't any sign of Maze to be found.

"Damn it!" screamed Kal.

"Do not get frustrated swordsman, we will find him" said Franklin in a calm tone.

"I don't think so" said a voice coming from behind them.

Kal and Franklin made a quick turn to see Lucas and a line of Marines armed with swords and rifles pointed at them.

"You know I wasn't sure if stacking out this place would actually bare any fruit but I must say to catch two of the four pirates I'm looking for in one place is just wonderful" said Lucas.

"Aren't you getting ahead of yourself a little man, I don't see any chains or shackles on me or my partner here, and if you think we're going down without a fight then you don't know who you're messing with" said Kal.

"Agreed" said Franklin in a cold tone.

They both brandished their weapons and got ready to fight.

"Cute, bring me their heads" said Lucas.

On that note the line of marines charged at Kal and Franklin with their swords swinging and guns their guns blazing.

* * *

><p><strong>Back at the ship-<strong>

While the guys were looking for Maze, Connie took it upon herself to ready the ship so they could take off at a moment's notice. As she was raising the sails she heard a set of footsteps climbing the gang plank, she initially thought it was the rest of the crew and ran over to let them know what still had to be done. Unfortunately it wasn't the crew; instead it was a group of three marines one of which was wearing a captain's coat.

"See I told you two checking the docks would be better than staying with the Rear Admiral" said Captain Kevin.

It was a three on one situation and Connie knew she was at a disadvantage, but she also knew that if she was taken, then even if the guys got back here they wouldn't be able to sail off, so she made the only decision she could.

"I don't know who you guys are, but you walked onto the wrong ship" said Connie.

She then took out a used lollipop stick from her pocket and made it onto her candy hammer.

"And I've been wanting to hit something" said Connie as she jumped at the three marines with her hammer in mid swing.

* * *

><p><strong>Two hours earlier at Marine HQ-<strong>

Vice Admiral Calais was sitting at his desk looking over a few papers that were on his desk. A young woman with puffy red hair soon walked into his office, she was wearing a black pantsuit and black heels and was carrying a black umbrella.

"Ah Rear Admiral Europa, what brings you here on this beautiful day" said Calais.

"I just got word from the base in Louge Town, apparently that man you were looking for has been sited there, I just wanted to know what action you would like me to take in dealing with him" said Europa in a cold tone.

"Well as much as I trust your skills my dear, we don't want to leave anything to chance, remind me which fleet is currently closest to Louge Town?" asked Calais.

"I believe it is Captain Jared Garp's Fleet sir" said Europa.

"Oh perfect he should do the job just fine" said Calais.

Calais then walked over to a small box that was atop a cabinet in his office, he inserted a key into the box, opened it up and pulled out what looked to be a gold Den-den Mushi.

"I never liked Louge Town anyway" said Calais with a sinister grin.

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><p><strong>AN: Dun dun dun. Sorry to leave you guys on so many cliff hangers but I want to stretch this out to at least chapter 30 just to solidify my pacing a bit. And yes to those of you who know what the gold Den-den Mushi signifies which if you read or saw Robins back ground story you should, it is coming and it will be glorious. **

**I would like to thank "The Imposter" for creating ****Rear Admiral Europa who will be playing a big part in Calais story and his dealings.**

**And of course "Magnumopus01" for creating Rear Admiral Lucas Richeson, which I forgot to do in the previous chapter, and again dude I apologize wholly for that.**

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><p><strong>Now just to side track for a moment.<strong>

**Recently I have been thinking of taking on a second project, now obviously I do not want this to interfere with my one piece fan fic so it would most likely be a bi weekly series. The story I want to write about would be based off of Danganronpa. Now I know it isn't as popular or widely known as one piece so I'll be leaving a link to its Wikipedia page and a link to the 1****st****episode of the ****anime to give those not familiar with it a basic understanding of what it is. For those who want more info I will also leave a link to a gameplay video of Danganronpa now the whole playlist of it is pretty long so might take you a while to finish. Now I'm doing this because like my one piece story I will be taking OCS now since this story is on a smaller scale I can really only take 15 characters for the entire story so to make sure everyone has a fair shot of having their own character chosen I will only take one submission per person. Now I have said this to a few people that have PM'd me in the past but I'll put it here now. I write for you guys and gals, the readers and I write according to the material you guys give me with that being said if you guys prefer I don't do this second series and just focus on one piece I would understand I'd be heartbroken but I'd understand ha ha, any way leave your comments in the review section and for those who which to submit a character for Donganronpa just PM me now i know i shouldnt do it that way but this way no one knows secrets about another persons character besides me. I'll leave a charcter template below the Author notes.**

**So as usual if you liked this chapter leave a review and if you really liked this chapter then head over to the forum where you can discuss the story and submit any OCs you may want to appear in the story.**

** myforums/Raverns/5899739/**

**Now until next time guys and gals look out for the next chapter, and as always stay awesome everyone!**

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><p><strong>Dangan ronpa links<strong>

**wiki**

** wiki/Danganronpa**

**anime**

** watch?v=oDhgNNwoQ3k**

**game play**

** playlist?list=PL5bkYBlFL9xd3xEzhbmWzj9E8_kDKrTfr**

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><p><strong>Next time on One Piece: The Next Story- Not only are our heroes in danger so is Louge Town itself how will the Typhoon Pirates make it out off the island in One Piece (get it) and where is Maze. You'll have to check out the next chapter to find out!<strong>

**Chapter 29: The Last Day of Louge Town! – Part 2 Run or Die!**

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><p>Character template<p>

Name: Blanky McBlank

Skill: Ultimate: (example; Ultimate:sitter)

Bio:

Appearance:

Personality:

Likes:

Dislikes:

Darkest secret:

Regular Secret:


	29. I AM SO SORRY :(

**I am so SORRY **

**Hello everyone this is Ravernz I regret to inform all of you that due to some news I received today that I will not be able to continue with the fanfic One Piece The Next Story I would like to apologize to all those that have favorite my story and have read and come to enjoy the story that you all helped me create I want to let you that if the situation wasn't what it was then I would never stop writing this and it hurts me that I will not be able to continue writing the adventures of Maze and his crew I would like to apologize to all those who submitted characters and I truly wish I could keep the promises I made with the people I told whose characters would be in the story but I will make this last promise if my condition reverses then I promise to pick up where I left off and continue to write the story we both enjoy, until then stay awesome guys and gals.**


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